Date of birth 19 May 1979 (1979-05-19) (age 31)
Place of birth Montevideo, Uruguay
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 77 kg
Playing position Striker
Diego Martín Forlán Corazo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdjeɣo foɾˈlan]; born 19 May 1979 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan footballer who currently plays for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Uruguayan national team, as a striker. He is a two-time winner of both the Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe.
Forlán was born into a family of footballers, his father Pablo having played for Uruguay in the 1966 and 1974 FIFA World Cups and his grandfather, Juan Carlos Corazo, for Independiente in Argentina. Forlán joined Independiente after rising through their youth team, and after a successful four year spell signed for Manchester United. Forlán's two-year stint in the Premier League saw him fail to achieve the form he held at Independiente, and he was signed by La Liga side Villarreal.
In his first season in Spanish football, Forlán scored 25 league goals and won the Pichichi Trophy. After two more successful seasons with Villarreal, Forlán joined Atlético Madrid, where he once again became the league's top scorer, and became the first player to win the Pichichi Trophy twice since Ronaldo achieved this feat in 2003-04.
Forlán also has a successful international career, in which he has scored 28 times for his country. He has scored at both the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea, and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, in which he scored twice against the host nation, once against Ghana and once against the Netherlands in the semi-final.
Club career
Early career
Forlán, son of former player and Uruguayan international Pablo Forlán, was a promising tennis player in his youth, but when his sister Alejandra was involved in a car accident which killed her boyfriend and left her in intensive care for five months, he decided to follow the family tradition and concentrate on football. He played for several South American clubs, including Argentine side Independiente, where he made his name in football as a goalscorer, before attracting European attention and transferring in January 2002 to play for Manchester United in England for a fee of £6.9 million.
Manchester United
He made his debut for the team on 29 January against Bolton Wanderers, but did not score his first goal for the club, a penalty, until 18 September in a Champions League game against Maccabi Haifa. It took him eight months and 27 games to score that first goal, to the extent that he was dubbed "Diego Forlorn" and "Diego Birtles" (after Garry Birtles, a former United striker who had flopped) for his goal drought by some quarters of the English press.
Forlán enjoyed the occasional purple patch of scoring, but inconsistency blighted his time at United. He was, however, noted for scoring important goals, such as the late equaliser at home to Aston Villa and the remarkable volleyed winner in the last minutes of the home game against Chelsea during United's Premiership-winning season of 2002–03. During this period, Forlán became known for characteristically removing his shirt and baring his torso in celebration of his goals. The first such example of this routine resulted in quite an amusing incident; Forlán whipped his shirt off in excitement after scoring an 85th minute winner against Southampton in November 2002 but struggled to get it back on in time for the re-start of play, resulting in the spectacle of Forlán briefly running around the Old Trafford pitch bare-chested, with his shirt still in his hand, then recovering the ball for his team. The referee soon stopped play and ordered Forlán off the pitch to get dressed.
He became a fan favourite in 2002 when he scored two goals against Liverpool in a 2–1 victory at Anfield. Forlán's record of 17 goals from 95 appearances for the club does not compare favourably against his former teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy's 150 goals in 210 games, and it was widely thought that he would not start the 2004–05 season in the Red Devils' team colours. That eventually proved true after signing for Villareal in August of 2004, the same month Manchester United signed Wayne Rooney.
Villarreal
Forlán was strongly linked to a move to Spanish club Levante UD, but signed on 21 August 2004 with another Spanish club, Villarreal CF, where he became the Spanish 2004–05 season Pichichi Trophy winner with 25 goals, helping Villareal to their first ever UEFA Champions League spot. He also jointly won the European Golden Boot award with Thierry Henry. His form dipped in the 2005-06 season as Villareal underwent several changes, but in 2006-07 he began to hit form again, and ended the season high in the scoring charts again.
Atlético Madrid
Forlán was linked to transfer with Juan Román Riquelme to Atlético Madrid in exchange for Luis Perea and money in June 2007. On 30 June 2007, following the departure of their captain Fernando Torres to Liverpool, Atlético Madrid confirmed that they had agreed a fee of around €21 million. He returned to England in February 2008 to take part in Atlético's UEFA Cup clash against Bolton Wanderers (the club against whom he made his Manchester United debut), but the side lost out 1–0 on aggregate. For the 2008–09 season, he was once again the recipient of the La Liga Pichichi Trophy award, with 32 goals in 33 matches, as well as the European Golden Boot for a second time.
On 22 April 2010, Forlán scored the only goal of the game in Atlético's Europa League semi-final first leg at home to Liverpool. A week later, Liverpool took the tie to extra time before taking a 2–1 aggregate lead. Forlán then scored again to make it 2–2 on aggregate, giving Atlético the away goal they needed to reach the final, in which they played against Fulham at Hamburg's HSH Nordbank Arena on 12 May. Forlán scored twice against Fulham in the Final, in a 2–1 win.
International career
Forlán debuted for Uruguay in 2002. On 11 June 2002, Forlán scored in the 2002 FIFA World Cup against Senegal with a volley in a 3-3 draw. Despite coming from three goals down to draw the game, Uruguay were eliminated from the tournament along with France in Group A. He also scored against Brazil in the 35th minute of the 2007 Copa América semi-final. However, he missed his shot during the subsequent penalty shootout, which Brazil ultimately won 5–4. Since the 2007 Copa America, Forlán has become a regular for Uruguay and often has a place in the starting XI. On 17 June 2008, he scored a hat-trick in a World Cup qualifying game against Peru.
Diego Forlán and Youri Djorkaeff were, respectively, members of the Uruguay and France squads that met in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Their fathers, Pablo and Jean, featured in the match between Uruguay and France at the 1966 FIFA World Cup.
2010 FIFA World Cup
On 16 June 2010, during Uruguay's second group game in the 2010 FIFA World Cup against South Africa, Forlán opened the scoring with a long range effort. Later on in the game Forlán scored from the penalty spot for his second and also had a hand in Uruguay's third, ending in a 3-0 win over the host nation. On 2 July 2010, Forlán scored a free kick against Ghana to equalise during the quarter-finals. The game ended 1-1 and Uruguay advanced through to the semi-finals after defeating Ghana 4-2 in the penalty shootout.. On 6 July 2010, Forlán scored another long range goal, this time with his left foot to equalise againt the Netherlands in the semi-final. Despite a half-time score at 1-1, Uruguay eventually lost 3-2 as the Dutch advanced to the final. Forlán became the first player since Lothar Matthäus in 1990 to score three goals outside the penalty area in one tournament.
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Would be up and near 20-25m I guess. His striker partner for Uruguay, Suárez?
Forlan