Madrid - Chelsea striker Fernando Torres is targeting the English Premier League title after a year of ups and downs which culminated in triumphs for the Spaniard in the Champions League, FA Cup and at Euro 2012.
“I would love to win a Premier League,” Torres, who has just joined up with his club team mates for a pre-season training camp in the United States, said on his personal website on Tuesday.
“Hopefully it will happen this year, but for sure we will be challenging for it,” added the 28-year-old, who put a period of poor form behind him to end the season on a spectacular high, including winning the Euro 2012 Golden Boot award.
Chelsea's first challenge next term is the season-opening Community Shield on August 12, which pits the FA Cup winners against the Premier League champions, Manchester City.
“In my opinion, the equality between the big English teams is at a peak,” Torres said.
“You just have to look at the way City sealed the title, at the last gasp, and how the team that won the Champions League (Chelsea) finished sixth,” he added.
“That's how the (Community Shield) will be, a battle from start to finish between two teams who are obliged to fight for everything this season in England and in Europe.”
Torres left 2012 Europa League champions Atletico Madrid to join Liverpool in 2007, before signing for Chelsea in 2011, and said the European Super Cup against his boyhood club at the end of next month would possibly be the most memorable match of his career.
“It's going to be full of conflicting emotions and that's why I am chomping at the bit to play it,” he said.
“Meeting a team that you carry in your heart has to be different: a European final with a title at stake,” he added. “That's not bad, is it?” - Reuters