Torres and Villa, a World Class partnership

Torres and Villa, together with Diego Costa, will make up the 'La Roja' attack in Brazil. This will be the third World Cup that the two-ex-Atléticos have played in together. Both players made their World Cup debut for Spain in 2006. The two forwards then defended their country's colours in 2010 and will do so again in Brazil 2014.

Back in the Germany 2006 World Cup, Torres had already made the jump to the Premier league with Liverpool, while Villa was still whacking goals in for Valencia. For both it was their first ever World Cup. Both had to compete for a place with Raúl González Blanco and Luis García. 'El Niño' (the Kid) played in a total of four matches (against Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and France). He was a starter in Luis Aragonés' squad and scored three times. 'El Guaje', meanwhile was also a starter for his country, playing in the same matches as Torres and also finished the championship having netted three.

After that came South Africa 2010 and Del Bosque used both as out-and-out strikers with Fernando Llorente. Villa was one of the tournament's superheroes, putting the ball in the back of the net seven times. He was also picked for the World Cup's ideal 11. Fernando Torres also played in all seven games Spain played in South Africa before coming out World Champions, but never managed to score.