World Cup 2010: Athletic Bilbao Striker Fernando Llorente Eyes Spain Call-Up
The 24-year-old is eager to secure a place in South Africa...
By Paul Madden
Llorente has scored 17 goals in 31 games in all competitions so far this season and the 24-year-old believes that he has what it takes to convince coach Vicente del Bosque that he is worthy of a place in the squad.
"It is important to have a good season as this year there is a World Cup, which I think would be the icing on the cake. It's hard not to think that there is a World Cup at the end of the year. For me, it would be the greatest thing to go [to the finals]," Llorente is quoted as saying by AS.
"I think I'm doing a good job and now what I have to do is continue in this line. Do not relax, go to the full, work as hard as I can and continue scoring goals, that is what matters.
"I do not know what decision the coach will take. I guess he will take four strikers, but I do not want to anticipate anything."
Hosted by Stephen Crawford & Adam Scime
We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!
Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.
From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
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“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
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