Fernando Torres has told The Independent he is determined to prove to Jose Mourinho he should be the Chelsea manager's first-choice striker.
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Torres, 30, has struggled for regular first-team football this season, starting just 15 of Chelsea's 32 Premier League matches.
The Spain international was overlooked in Mourinho's starting XI for their Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, raising further question marks about his future at Stamford Bridge.
But Torres, scorer of 19 league goals in 105 appearances since joining the Blues from Liverpool for 50 million pounds in 2011, has not given up hope of winning over Mourinho, who was critical of his forwards this week.
"He [Mourinho] has to choose the one [striker] he thinks is better and try to manage the situation with the players,” Torres said. “He didn’t do anything special with me. Just treats me like one more.
"He puts me on the pitch when he thinks I am the best option and on the bench when he thinks I am not the best option.
"My aim is to try to make him feel I am always the best option for him. You have to have ways to adapt to this situation. Blame the manager? Blame your teammates? Blame everyone? Or ask from yourself a bit more.
"I think I can do better. I can make Jose think I am the best option. That is what I have to do every day in training, all the matches. I just ask of myself the responsibility.
"The things you cannot change you can’t waste your time on. I cannot [automatically] change the way the manager thinks so I have to ask myself and be critical with myself to try to understand what he wants.
"I have to put more and more effort into these things. It is what I have been doing all my life... I cannot change the others so I have to be critical of myself.
"You have to prove yourself every day. You have to live for today. Three years ago? Five years ago? It’s today. If the manager thinks there is another player better than you he is going to play and this is the way.
"You have to try to improve and keep fighting and try to change the manager’s mind. Hopefully one day Jose can say ‘This [Torres] is my striker, he is going to be my striker’ like he does with some of the players who have won the appreciation from him."