Fernando Torres hero to zero with woeful miss

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Fernando Torres went from hero to zero as the Spain striker's troubled spell at Chelsea continued with an embarrassing miss in his side's 3-1 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday.

Torres seemed to be having a rare day to remember in a Chelsea shirt as he scored just his second goal for the Blues since his British record £50 million ($78.9 million) transfer from Liverpool in January.

His cool, chipped finish over David de Gea just after half-time gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope after United's three-goal salvo in the first half and gave him a just reward for an enterprising display.

Yet, just as things were looking up for Torres he reverted to the clumsy form that has seen him written off as the biggest transfer flop in Premier League history.

When Ramires sent Torres clean through on goal in the closing stages, the Chelsea striker looked certain to score as he skipped round United goalkeeper David de Gea.

But, faced with an open goal and just six yards out, he somehow contrived to scuff a hurried effort woefully wide of the target and hung his head in shame as the mocking cheers of 75,000 United fans filled the Old Trafford air.

There was no way back for Chelsea after that but Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas refused to condemn Torres for the howler and insisted the mistake was no worse than Wayne Rooney's penalty miss earlier in the match.

"You have an example of Rooney missing a penalty too, which is basically the same," he said.

"The worst things happen to the best strikers in the world and today it happened to both of them."

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he was convinced Torres would score because he had plenty of time to pick his spot.

"I thought he was bound to score. It was a bad miss, he had so much time," Ferguson said.