Scotland could be in for a Torres time on Tuesday, warn Spaniards

Fernando Torres may be struggling for form with club and country but the Chelsea and Spain striker is ready to take out his frustrations on Scotland on Tuesday, according to his international team-mate Alvaro Arbeloa.

The world and European champions face the Scots in Alicante and are looking to make it a perfect 100 per cent qualifying record from Group I.

This awesome football machine have now won 21 qualifiers in a row and will go all out to make it 22 when the Scots come calling to the Costa Blanca this week.

Spain barely got out of second gear on Friday night against a woeful Czech side. Goals from Juan Mata and Xabi Alonso sealed an easy win, but their foot was off the gas long before the final whistle.

The only slight clutching-at-straws promising aspect for the Tartan Army was yet another disappointing display from £50 million striker Torres, who looked uncomfortably out of his depth in this superb Spanish side. He couldn’t hold the ball, looked desperately lacking in confidence and appeared to be a shadow of his former deadly self.

But while Torres may have lost confidence in his own ability, he was backed both by his manager Vicente Del Bosque and Real Madrid and Spain left back Arbeloa after the game to return to his best.

And, worryingly for Scotland, the showdown in Alicante could be just the place for the former Liverpool man to regain his form.

Arbeloa said: “I am sure Fernando will be fine for the game against Scotland. He’s getting better and better every day. He’s a really good striker and I have no doubts that in time he will score a lot of goals.

“I don’t feel as if there is a weight on his shoulders. He’s just playing like normal. If he was to start on Tuesday then I’d have every confidence in him scoring – and then more goals will follow after that.”

And Del Bosque also backed Torres to come good, despite Friday’s lacklustre showing in Prague. He said: “I was pleased with what I saw from Fernando. We didn’t manage to create any chances for him, but I am happy with his performance.”

Meanwhile, former Liverpool player Arbeloa is expecting a tough game from Craig Levein’s side because Spain got the fright of their lives at Hampden earlier in the campaign.

Scotland battled back from being two goals down in Glasgow, before losing a late goal to give the world’s No.1 ranked team a 3-2 victory.

Arbeloa said: “We know Scotland will come to Alicante to win because they need a victory in Spain, but we want to win as well so it will be a tough match. We know they have good players, it was difficult to beat them in Glasgow and I think it will be the same on Tuesday.

“When I look back on the campaign, I think the match at Hampden was our most difficult. It was so hard, Scotland played really well. We know they have good players. We have qualified already but we want to win in front of our fans.

“It will be interesting to see how many Scotland fans travel to Spain, I’ve heard there is a lot but that’s good. I think that’s better for football in general – for them, for us as well and hopefully it’s a classic game.

“I was playing in England and had two-and-a-half great years and Scotland is more or less the same in terms of the strong style and passion. They have good players who are good in the air and physically strong.

“We know everything about the Scotland team, we are prepared. We know they have players at the very top level playing for the likes of Manchester United and my old club Liverpool.

“I’ve played in Hercules’ stadium before and the atmosphere should be good. It’s a nice arena, perfect for this type of match.”