The hair is fair once again but in other respects it was the same old grumpy Fernando Torres that Liverpool and Chelsea fans will recognise as he suffered a nightmare return to the Champions League with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Torres, who played a cameo in Chelsea's 2012 Champions League triumph, had waited 10 long months to take part in Europe's top club competition, last appearing in Chelsea's defeat against Atletico in last April's semi-final.
Since then, he has been shown the door by Jose Mourinho and sent out on loan back to Madrid by his new club AC MilanThe hair is fair once again but in other respects it was the same old grumpy Fernando Torres that Liverpool and Chelsea fans will recognise as he suffered a nightmare return to the Champions League with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Torres, who played a cameo in Chelsea's 2012 Champions League triumph, had waited 10 long months to take part in Europe's top club competition, last appearing in Chelsea's defeat against Atletico in last April's semi-final.
Since then, he has been shown the door by Jose Mourinho and sent out on loan back to Madrid by his new club AC Milan
With Atletico trailing 1-0 to Leverkusen, the script was written for Torres to save the day when he was sent on as a 64th minute substitute by Diego Simeone.
At one time, particularly around his Euro 2008 peak, Torres would have been the hero. Not any more.
His 75th minute header from close range was ruled out because referee Pavel Kralovec adjudged the initial Atletico corner to have gone out of play before it reached the stooping Spaniard at the far post.
Torres looked irritated by that decision, waving his arms in impotent fury. And further sulking was to come, in the final minute he was chopped down by Emir Spahic.
Enraged, he got up and shoved the nearest Leverkusen player to him, which happened to be Son Heung-Min.
Torres became the 10th player on the night to be booked and soon after the final whistle blew, leaving last season's beaten Champions League finalists to contemplate going out at the last-16 stage this time.
The second leg, in which Atletico have to claw back a 1-0 deficit without another ex-Chelsea player Tiago who was sent off in Germany, might be the last chance for 30-year-old Torres to show he still has super-human powers, even if they haven't been seen for a number of years.
He signed for Milan in the summer, scored one goal for them in Serie A, and though Atletico fans were excited by his three goals in the Copa del Rey, he is still looking for his first strike in La Liga.
And yet, Atletico is the club where it all started for him. The fans love him and the team need him as Simeone admitted.
'I brought on Torres because we needed some fresh impetus,' he said. 'We have a lot of injuries and suspensions going into the second leg but we still have hope.'
Torres will have to put the tetchiness of the first leg behind him and start smiling, and scoring, again quickly.
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