TORR DE FORCE ... Fernando Torres is back on form for Spain at long last

FERNANDO TORRES admits he fell out of love with football after hitting a low last season.

As he struggled to find his form and a place at Chelsea back in February, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque rang him to say he was also being dropped from his squad for a friendly against Venezuela.

For the hero of Euro 2008 and a World Cup winner, it was a hammer blow — but it also served as a wake-up call.

Torres, who struck twice in Thursday’s 4-0 Euro win over the Republic of Ireland, said: “Del Bosque phoned me before dropping me for the Venezuela friendly and I fully understood. I had lost some of my love for being at work.

“I had stopped setting an example to younger players, which is something I was taught to do at Atletico Madrid.

“Being picked for Spain had become a habit. Now it is a prize again.”

Fast forward four months and Torres is back in the team and back on song.

Thursday’s double in Gdansk gave a glimpse of the player for whom Chelsea shelled out £50million.

Torres, 28, said: “I was pleased with my personal performance and very happy to have scored but I’m mainly happy because the team won.

“We’re confident now because we feel as strong as ever, because we played well. We have to keep playing like this.”

Torres netted in style after just four minutes against the Irish.

He added: “We knew scoring early would set us up well. We needed the comfort that brought us. That got rid of the doubts and opened up the game.”