Sagan Tosu's Spanish striker Fernando Torres said Sunday he considers the respect he earned from the soccer world the "biggest trophy" won during his 18-year professional career, as he readies to retire from the sport in two months.

Two days after announcing his retirement, the 35-year-old, a member of Spain's first and only World Cup winning side in 2010 and a two-time European champion, said there was more to his career than winning major titles.

"After watching the reaction of the football world, I feel really proud of everything I was able to achieve during my career," Torres told a Tokyo press conference.

"Sometimes football players only focus on trophies. I did in the past. I wanted to win as many trophies as possible...and now that the end is coming, I look back and the best thing I achieved was the respect of everybody."

Torres, who began his professional career with Spain's Atletico Madrid before moving to Liverpool and Chelsea in the English Premier League, said he was taken aback by the number of messages on social media that people had posted, including those of appreciation from fellow players.

Playing in his second season with the Japanese side, Torres said it was time to call it quits before he reached a point in his career when he can no longer give himself a satisfactory mark.

He will play his final match on Aug. 23 when Tosu face Vissel Kobe, where former Spain teammates Andres Iniesta and David Villa play. After that, Torres said he would remain with Sagan as an adviser.

"I have a high demand of myself. I always want to be honest and perform at the level I think I should," he said. "I think the time that I will not be able to perform at the level I asked myself is not fun...I want to put an end before that happens."

"To say goodbye to football next to two very great friends -- who we share very good memory together -- is something great. So I tried to find an iconic moment to play my final game and I think it's a perfect moment."

Torres, who scored 38 goals in 110 internationals for Spain, made international headlines last year when he signed with the Tosu-based Sagan in southwestern Japan's Saga Prefecture.

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He helped Sagan narrowly escape relegation from the top flight, finishing 14th in the 18-team table, but the side is at the bottom of the table after 16 matches this season. Torres scored three goals in 17 games in 2018, but has struggled with fitness this year and has only made six starts so far.

"I really enjoyed playing in J1, playing in Japan -- so fantastic competition. Any team can beat any team and that makes every game so exciting for supporters but also players," he said.

"There were some difficult times during my career, but I always looked at them as opportunities, not as a problem. I learned how to solve them and how to come back stronger. The difficult times made me better."

With two months remaining in his career, he said he is only focused on one match at a time. Tosu have seven league matches scheduled before the Aug. 23 clash at home.

"I will put my 100 percent effort in every training to be better even though the end is coming," he said.