Schalke 0 Chelsea 3: Torres happy with ‘healthy’ striker competition

Fernando Torres insisted there is a healthy rivalry among Chelsea strikers after the Spaniard seized his chance to impress and scored twice in an emphatic win at Schalke.

The Spain international broke the deadlock in the fifth minute with a close-range finish before the 29-year-old forward doubled Chelsea’s lead with 22 minutes remaining at the Veltins-Arena.

Torres was denied a hat-trick on his 100th Chelsea start when he hit the crossbar late on before Eden Hazard sealed the rout in the 87th minute as the Blues moved to the top of Group E.

“We have three very good strikers and hopefully all of us can score goals,” Torres told Sky Sports.

“The main thing is when we have the chance to play that we take our chance to score goals.

“The competition for the striker position is very healthy.”

Hazard had the chance to tee up Torres but the Belgium forward took the selfish option and bagged his third strike in two games.

However, the Spaniard insisted he was happy for his team-mate: “It wasn’t an easy pass but I’m happy for Eden Hazard – he’s doing great. He scored two goals at the weekend and as well tonight. We need to keep Eden in a good mood and as sharp as possible.”

The former Liverpool striker also believes Chelsea will continue to improve in the coming weeks and months after a slow start to the season.

“It’s a young squad with a new manager and new players and it takes time to gel. We’re still improving and hopefully we can see the best Chelsea from now until the end of the season.”