'Bigger club' rescued me from darkness: Torres

Fernando Torres says Chelsea came in and rescued him during his darkest hour - although he admits Liverpool are still the club with more history.
The Spaniard only joined the Blues in a £50 million deal at the end of January, but has not got off to the ideal start to life at Stamford Bridge - alienating his former team's fans by calling Chelsea "a bigger club", then losing on his debut to Kenny Dalglish's well-organised side.
The 2010 World Cup winner has acknowledged he did not intend to be dismissive of his former side, but to simply state that the Stamford Bridge outfit rescued him from an increasingly depressing situation and gave him the opportunity to win major trophies once again.
"Money was not important. I left to improve sporting-wise," Torres told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. "I thought I would stay one more year and take it as a transition season. But a time comes when you lose enthusiasm, you see those in the Spanish national team are playing at a different level.
"Then when everything looked black, Chelsea came and showed a real interest."
The 26-year-old paid tribute to his former club, who he joined from Atletico Madrid in 2007, and made sure to praise their history of success.
"Liverpool will always be very special to me," he said. "Because of its history, Liverpool is a bigger club but it's going through a difficult time. Chelsea is like Manchester United, the strongest over the last 10 years.
"One is not better than the other, I'm just happy to have had the fortune of playing for both of them."
Torres has spent less than a week with his new team-mates so far, having flown out to join up with the Spanish national team after Sunday's defeat, but has already been encouraged by the team spirit at the club - admitting he was expecting it to be more subdued as their title defence has been blown increasingly off course.
"I have been pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere in the Chelsea changing room," he said. "I thought it would be more distant but the atmosphere is very good, they laugh, they joke. It's nice."
Spain face Colombia in a friendly on Wednesday, and Torres believes a break from the madness of recent days will enable him to recharge his batteries and return to England in better form.
"These past 10 days have been very intense and it still is," Torres said. "Everything has gone so quickly and it's as though I have a lot of information in my head. It seems that a month has gone by instead of a week.
"I want to enjoy playing with the national team because we are champions of everything. This game is good for me to disconnect."