Fernando Torres 'refused to take penalty to end goal drought'

Chelsea's Fernando Torres reportedly refused to take a penalty in Tuesday night's FA Cup fifth-round replay against Birmingham City.

Teammate Juan Mata, who buried the spot-kick, claims that he offered the ball to the £50m striker, only for him to pass up the scoring opportunity.

"I asked Fernando if he wanted to take it because he had won the penalty," Mata said. "But he said 'I'm not first on the list to shoot' and so he did not take it.

"Fernando is my friend and I try to help him. I don't know why he didn't take it."

Chelsea won the game 2-0 after Raul Meireles added to Mata's pen with a long-range strike.

Torres has not scored for the Blues in almost 24 hours of football.