Fernando Llorente can rise from the dead and help Tottenham down Chelsea
Tottenham’s Fernando Llorente suffered a nightmarish performance in his chance to shine against Fulham; but history teaches us not to lose faith, just yet.
Unless you were living under a rock last November, you probably heard about Dublin side Ballybrack FC’s Fernando La-Fuente miraculously rising from the dead.
It was a Thursday afternoon when a club volunteer broke the tragic news that the team’s former Spanish star had been killed in a traffic accident. Naturally, the league accepted the claim and responded accordingly.
Minutes of silence were held across the division as black arm bands were donned, eulogies mourned the loss in national newspapers, and the league looked into sending a representative to the funeral. It was the latter, however, that led to the hoax unravelling and Ballybrack coming clean.
The club had just wanted to get a game postponed as it clashed with a pre-planned weekend away for many first teamers. Fernando continues to walk the streets of Ireland, fit and well, and is now a cult hero after hitting headlines around the world.
Tottenham’s Fernando to rise from the ashes
Fernando Llorente’s Tottenham career seems dead and buried after his woeful performance last weekend. The striker found the back of the net after just 17 minutes – his own net, that is – and the irony was almost unbearable.
No one could have written such a script, just as no one is giving him any chance of pulling off a Lazarus-esque resurrection in a Spurs shirt. But fans shouldn’t be so quick to write him off.
It wasn’t too long ago that Moussa Sissoko was the subject of torrid abuse and scorn from the support. In the Frenchman’s case, he simply needed a run of games to gain momentum before such disdain transformed into adulation. I’m not suggesting Llorente is going to enjoy a similar rise to prominence in the Spurs ranks or be the next Roger Milla – but he doesn’t need to.
The striker’s only objective is to help the side through the next couple of fixtures before the club’s two most prolific goal getters return. Although he won’t be imbued with confidence after his last outing, he did win almost every header – albeit usually not to Tottenham’s advantage – and just needs a fortunate knockdown or two to ease Spurs into the final.
The former Juventus man is not suddenly Grzegorz Rasiak. He did bag a hat-trick in his previous outing and, at 33 years-of-age, may need a little momentum to readjust to Premier League calibre opposition.
Of course, Lucas Moura may start the game as a false 9, but with such a threadbare squad the Spaniard will certainly be called upon at some point.
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It’s been a bizarre season for the club thus far, and stranger things have happened than a possible Fernando resurrection. But one thing is for sure: another performance similar to that of last weekend’s and it will be the final nail in the Spaniard’s coffin.