By Mark Irwin
FERNANDO TORRES was a bloody hero as Chelsea reached the Europa League last eight.
Torres sealed a 3-2 aggregate win after Steaua’s equaliser had left Rafa Benitez staring at another Euro exit.
The £50million flop also missed a penalty and suffered a suspected broken nose.
Boss Benitez said: “It was important for Fernando to score tonight and even more important for the team. Hopefully, this will be the first of a lot.
“He was working very hard and scoring a lot of goals in training and we knew he was very close to scoring again.
“He was one of our three designated penalty takers and I am more pleased that he had the confidence to take the responsibility than the fact that he missed it.
“He got caught in the face by someone’s studs and I saw him bleeding but we don’t know yet if his nose is broken.”
Last night’s win means Chelsea will face a nightmare schedule of six games in 16 days in the league, FA Cup and Europa League after next week’s international break.
Benitez said: “We have played nine games a month since I have been here Hopefully, we can manage the situation and progress in all three competitions.”
