The striker stunned the league when he arrived from Atletico Madrid for a fee of around £20 million, although this figure takes into account García's move to Atlético.
He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season to score more than 20 league goals in a season. Torres became the fastest player in Liverpool history to score 50 league goals. He left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a record British transfer fee of £50 million, which made him the most expensive Spanish player in history.
The transfer to Chelsea proved to be the beginning of the transformation of the once most feared striker. Where he scored just one goal in 18 games in his first season at the club. Ever since then the striker has been labeled a "flop" by many football pundits worldwide.
Torres was integral in the club winning the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, despite receiving criticism for a comparatively low goal-scoring record. The following season he scored in the final of the 2012-13 UEFA Europa League, helping Chelsea to win the competition for the first time. On 15 May 2013, Torres won the UEFA Europa League with Chelsea, joining team-mate Juan Mata to become the first players to have held all 4 of the Champions League, Europa League, World Cup and the European Championships simultaneously.
With arrival of Jose Mourinho back to Chelsea, El Niño (The Kid in Spanish) as he was once known has stared to prove his worth in the Chelsea team, after scoring two goals against Schalke 04 on tuesday night in the Champions league,Jose Mourinho kept faith with Torres up front and Chelsea began brightly as they looked to test a defence marshalled by Nastasic and debutant Martin Demichelis in the absence of injured captain Vincent Kompany.
However, after one anxious moment when Gary Cahill volleyed over the top as the offside flag stayed down from an Oscar cross, Manuel Pellegrini's side soon settled and began to enjoy the majority of possession.
The decision to leave Alvaro Negredo out of the starting line-up did at least give City an extra man in midfield and allow Yaya Toure greater freedom to push forward, with Aguero threatening on one run before scuffing a shot at Petr Cech from a tight angle.
There was a flurry of yellow cards in a fiercely competitive clash before the first clear chance of the afternoon arrived on the half-hour mark when Ramires' clever pass left Torres one-on-one with Hart, but the Spaniard fired horribly high of the goal.
Torres' fragile confidence has been the subject of scrutiny for several years but he shrugged off the bad miss to create Chelsea's opening goal with an excellent run three minutes later, as he showed great pace to burst past Gael Clichy and deliver a low cross from the byline which presented Schurrle with the simplest of close-range finishes.
Torres continued to cause havoc and he nearly doubled Chelsea's lead with a powerful strike from the corner of the penalty box which smashed against the crossbar.
Cech was called into action to deny Aguero from a narrow angle before the interval but he was unable to prevent the Argentina international from equalising in sensational style four minutes into the second half.
Aguero raced on to a pass from Samir Nasri and unleashed an unstoppable early shot with his left foot which Cech was slow to react to as it flew into the top corner of his near post from the edge of the area.
Chelsea had to withstand a short period of intense pressure as City went in search of a second goal, but Javi Garcia could only head straight at Cech from David Silva's free-kick after Nasri had been sent tumbling by Ramires just outside the box.
The home fans responded to drive their team back on to the front foot and there were strong appeals for a penalty when Eden Hazard went down in the area under a challenge from Pablo Zabaleta, but referee Howard Webb waved play on.
There was no sign of either side settling for a point as the game remained open, with Silva forcing Cech to make a save with his legs at one end and Oscar blazing a free-kick high into the stands at the other.
While Torres had looked the main danger in the first half, it was Aguero who appeared most likely to grab the headlines as the game wore on and he lifted a delightful chip just wide of the post after Webb had played an advantage.
Ramires drove a long-range effort off target and substitute Willian's free-kick just evaded a diving Branislav Ivanovic as it drifted wide of the far post, while Samuel Eto'o was sent on to partner Torres as Chelsea tried to finish with a flourish.
And Chelsea were rewarded in the 90th minute when Torres chased a hopeful long ball from Willian and a communication breakdown at the back for City resulted in Hart charging to the edge of his box and Nastasic heading it beyond his goalkeeper, giving Torres the chance to turn in the winning goal.
The goal by the Chelsea no 9 sent the Stamford bridge fans into ecstasy as they chanted the name "Ferdinando Torres" after the blast of the final whistle by Howard Webb.
MATCH FACT
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Lampard (Mikel 65), Schurrle (Willian 65), Oscar, Hazard (Eto'o 83), Torres
Substitutes not used: Luiz, Schwarzer, Azpilicueta, Mata
Scorer: Schurrle 32mins, Torres 90+1mins
Booked: Lampard, Ramires
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Nastasic, Clichy, Javi Garcia (Kolarov 80), Fernandinho, Nasri (Jesus Navas 69), Toure, Silva, Aguero (Negredo 86)
Substitutes not used: Richards, Milner, Dzeko, Pantilimon
Scorer: Aguero 48mins
Booked: Zabaleta, Nastasic, Javi Garcia
Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire)
Attendance: 41,495
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