'Super special': Homegrown star powers San Diego into its home MLS debut 

De la Torre's soccer story began in San Diego, where he was born, but because the city lacked a pro franchise for most of his career, he has played mostly abroad. 

As a teen, de la Torre moved to London to train with Premier League side Fulham. Four years later, he hopped across the English Channel to the Netherlands to play for Eredivisie Heracles. 

Two promising seasons there earned him a transfer to Spain's Celta de Vigo, and that club — a small, hyper-local outfit in the remote northwestern region of Galicia — kick-started de la Torre's development. He made 67 appearances for Celta de Vigo over three years, helping it cement a spot in the Spanish table after a series of relegation-threatened seasons.

Despite all his success in Europe, the call of home was strong for de la Torre, 26. When he heard about San Diego's MLS mission, he was eager to be a part of it. 

"It's a super special feeling to play at home, something not a lot of guys get to do in their career," de la Torre said, per MLS.com. "I can't wait to get started."

San Diego sporting director Tyler Heaps agrees.

"This is a situation we think works for us and for Luca," he told Give Me Sport. "It just means more. You bring in a kid from San Diego, you know he's going to give 110%."

New franchises have a charmed history in MLS. St. Louis City SC, the most recent team before San Diego to join the league, won the Western Conference in its opening season. Austin and Nashville needed just two seasons to scale the heights of their conferences and make deep playoff runs. Their successes shared three key elements: deep local connections, strong player sourcing and at least one standout athlete to push the team in moments of doubt. 

In de la Torre, San Diego has those qualities in one player.

De la Torre's influence is expected to extend far beyond the field. He's not a permanent San Diego signing — the midfielder arrived on a loan deal and will return to Galicia in December — so that means he can help the team grow and then spread the word about how far MLS has come.

"“There's more and more interest in MLS from players in Europe,” he told MLSsoccer.com. “A lot of my teammates ask me about it all the time, obviously about San Diego being such a great place to live in California. I think that the league is only going to grow. And when I come here, and when I see the facilities and the staff and the professionalism and the investment, to be honest, it's really impressive.”

De la Torre looked stellar in San Diego's 2-0 win over the Galaxy. He was the glue holding the midfield together, and his clever passing — coupled with standout performances from defensive midfielders Jeppe Tverskov and Anibal Godoy — kept the Galaxy from building momentum.

That kind of possession-based play is difficult to do well, but it can pay dividends in MLS. Several teams, most notably 2009 Real Salt Lake, have won the MLS Cup doing that.

De la Torre likes his chances of delivering a win at home in the team's second match in the league.

 "This is going to be a really massive game," he said. "To win this game is more important than winning the first game. It's about building this feeling of momentum here. 

"I believe — definitely — that this is a team that can do something special."