goal against Germany.

"I don¹t regret having had the op," he said. "I wanted to be there [in South Africa] so we had to take the whole of it [the meniscus] out. I don¹t regret having paid that prize to become a world champion, even if I know that my career might be three or four years shorter."

Torres started four games in a row in South Africa but lost his place to Pedro for the semifinal against Germany. That was not all he lost: he was clearly short of pace (that has never returned), and in the final he was unable to last the 15 minutes of second-half extra-time for which he had just come off the bench. By the time Andres Iniesta scored the goal that won theWorld Cup, Torres had limped off the pitch, 10 minutes after coming on, and was lying on a massage bed in the dressing room.

In the 27 games Torres played for Liverpool in the 2010-2011 season before he moved to Chelsea, he scored nine goals. His previous 27, before the operation, had produced 19 goals. The decline began before the striker moved to London.

Being crowned a world champion meant that, for Torres, the risk of the operation was worth the reward. In the week that Chelsea is currently in Yokohama, Japan, trying to win its first Club World Cup, it's unlikely that his current employer would agree.