Torres admits for the first time: 'I have been struggling'

Fernando Torres has admitted for the first time he has suffered a Chelsea nightmare. But the £50million man believes he has now conquered his inner doubts and is repaying the Stamford Bridge fans for their unyielding faith that he would come good. Torres signs off for an enforced three-week Chelsea break after tomorrow's Champions League game in Valencia following his red card foul on Swansea's Mark Gower on Saturday. The Spaniard appeared to concede referee Mike Dean was right to dismiss him despite insisting there was no malice in the tackle. But more revealing was Torres' candid admission that he had not delivered as he and Chelsea had expected after his British record January move from Liverpool and his gratitude to the Chelsea fans for not giving up on him. Torres, whose barren patch saw him score just once in his first 23 appearances for the Blues before he netted at Old Trafford nine days ago, said: "The first six months for me at Chelsea have been very very difficult for me. I have been struggling. "But I've always appreciated the support of the fans. When you are doing great and scoring goals and putting in good performances it's easy for the fans to love you and support you. "I've always said the relationship between me and the fans here is something that has impressed me from Day One. "Now just now when things are going right but from the first day at the club until now, every time I talked to them in the street or a cafe, I could feel the support they gave me. It's nice to start scoring for them." Torres hopes to extend that scoring run to three when he returns to Spain this week but knows he will not be available for Premier League duty again until the October 29 clash with Arsenal after his sending-off. "I didn't mean it, for sure," he said. "It's the first time I've received a red card in the Premier League - and hopefully it will be the last one. "Obviously I didn't want to do anything bad to the other player. I tried to take my leg away but I arrived to the ball late and kicked him a little bit. "It's a pity and I was really disappointed because it meant the team had to play with 10 men for a lot of time." The dismissal did come after another example of Torres' return to form as he brought down Juan Mata's clipped pass, spun and fired across Swansea keeper Michel Vorm into the bottom corner. Torres added: "When you have players like Mata, they have the quality to release these kind of passes. It was really nice. When he's on the ball you know he is going to do it for you. "It was another goal that helped the team and got us in front in the game. "After the first goal we had more confidence. Everything was going well. In the build-up for the second goal Ashley passed to me and then went on a great run to take my pass, then he found Ramires and it was a great finish by him."