Madrid, July 1 (DPA) Spanish football fans prefer Fernando Llorente to Fernando Torres as the centre-forward of the World Cup team, to judge by two online polls published on Thursday.
The two polls, taken by Madrid sports dailies AS and Marca, show very similar results.
The poll in AS shows 68 per cent of readers would prefer Llorente to Torres accompanying the in-form David Villa, while in Marca 67.1 per cent voted for Llorente compared to 32.9 per cent who picked Torres.
A debate has arisen in Spain because of the poor form of Torres and the lively displays of Llorente when called upon.
The two tall strikers gave contrasting displays in Spain’s 1-0 round of 16 defeat of Portugal in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Torres started the match and worked hard, but looked out of form and unfit. Llorente came on for him after an hour and gave the Spanish attack more verve and vigour – and came close to scoring three times.
Liverpool striker Torres, 26, was doubtful for the World Cup after undergoing surgery to remove a damaged knee cartilage in April.
Llorente, 25, won his place in the World Cup squad by scoring 14 goals for Athletic Bilbao last season. He scored his first international goal in a February 2009 friendly against England.
Llorente said on Thursday that ‘there should not be a debate about who should play. We are all here to help the national team to win the World Cup, and we all have to help on the same path.’
Spain face Paraguay on Saturday in the quarter-finals. Four out of their six goals in South Africa have been scored by Villa, one of the top scorers at the World Cup.
