Atletico Madrid have promoted club legend Fernando Torres as the head coach of the club's reserves side.
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Torres takes up a new role at AtleticoWill assist Simeone from the 2024/25 seasonManaged Atletico U19 side since 2021WHAT HAPPENED?
The former World Cup-winning Spain forward retired from professional football in 2019 and two years later joined Atletico as the manager of their U19 side. After spending the last three seasons with the youth team, Torres will now take charge of Atletico Madrid B which competes in the Spanish third division.
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An official statement from the club read, "Fernando Torres is the new coach of Atlético de Madrid B. The red and white legend and coach of our Academy will continue to progress in his career as a coach in the red and white reserve team that plays in 1ªRFEF. The Fuenlabrada coach replaces Luis García Tevenet, who has led the reserve team for the last three seasons, achieving two consecutive promotions and keeping Atleti B in the 1st RFEF and who next season will be part of the first team's coaching staff as an assistant by Simeone."
After penning a new deal with the Madrid-based side, the 40-year-old said, "I am at home and I feel an enormous responsibility since I decided to face this new stage. It has been three years of constant learning. For me, this step is very important and I want to be ambitious to do things better every day, face the challenges that come and the responsibility in the best way and at the same time know that I am in no hurry and no need to take a wrong step. I accept it as a great challenge with a lot of ambition and the peace of mind of knowing that we are prepared.
"The first thing is to know what the objective of a subsidiary is, which is to contribute many players to the first team. We have to insist to the players that their dream has to be to play for Atlético de Madrid and prepare them for the first team. The best way to do so is to compete and face a very complicated category with ambition, knowing that Atlético de Madrid requires you to give your all. Try to compete as well as possible, and have the team at the top of the table because that is what will prepare them for what comes next, hopefully, it will be our first team."
Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Torres will also serve as an assistant coach to club manager Diego Simeone from the 2024/25 season. He replaced the outgoing coach Garcia Tevenet who managed the reserves side for the past three years and oversaw the team gaining two promotions.
PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP via Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR ATLETICO MADRID?
The Colchoneros will be back in action in July as they are all set to travel to China for pre-season where they are scheduled to face Inter and Paris Saint-Germain.