The Russian national team manager Fabio Capello has said that the Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has been in decline for quite a while now and he does not expect Chelsea to get past Juventus in the Champions League. The £ 50 million striker has been criticised for not scoring as many goals as he has been for Liverpool during the four seasons he spent at Anfield. He has managed just more than 20 goals in more than 80 appearances for Chelsea, as he comes closer to spending two years with the club. He was extremely poor in the weekend’s defeat against West Brom.

As a result, the Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo has suggested that he will consider dropping the striker for the match against Juventus. This is an extremely crucial match for the team, as they have to at least draw it in order to progress to the next round of the cup. They are in danger of becoming the first Champions League title holders to miss out on the next stages of the competition at the group stages itself. The Russian manager Capello has said that Torres has been in a slow decline even when Benitez was the Liverpool manager. He has suggested that Juventus should be focusing on the three attacking midfielders for Chelsea in order to get the result.

“Fernando Torres is slowly losing it. I don’t know what is happening because he was very good when Rafael Benitez was the Liverpool manager. But he has not found inspiration [at Chelsea] and scored the goals that used to distinguish him. Before, he was unpredictable with Liverpool but now defences manage to beat him for speed and this is worrying,” said Fabio Capello. Capello has seen Russia gone defeated in the last five matches in all competitions.