Diego Forlan Live Story
Diego Martín Forlán Corazo (born in Montevideo, Uruguay, May 19, 1979, age 32 years) is a Spanish national soccer player who currently plays for Internazionale in the Serie A. He was born in Montevideo. His father Pablo Forlán, also played for Uruguay in 1974 in West Germany and his grandfather Juan Carlos Corazzo bermana played club soccer for Argentina CA Independiente. He has dual nationality, Uruguay and Spain.
Diego Forlan was a Uruguayan footballer who currently plays as a striker for Atletico Madrid and Uruguay national team. He is twice winner of both Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe, and also received the Golden Ball as best player in the 2010 World Cup.
Forlan was born into a family of players, his father Pablo has played for Sao Paulo FC (1970-1975) and Uruguay in 1966 and 1974 World Cups and his grandfather, Juan Carlos Corazzo, for Independiente in Argentina. Forlan joined Independiente after rising through their youth team, and after four successful years, he signed for Manchester United. Forlan disappointing served two years in the Premier League failed to form a view held at Independiente, and he moved to La Liga side Villarreal.
In his first season in Spanish football, Forlan scored 25 league goals and won the Pichichi Trophy. After two more successful seasons with Villarreal, Forlan joined Atletico Madrid, where he once again became the top scorer of the league, and became the first player to win the Pichichi Trophy twice since Ronaldo achieved this feat in 2003-04.
Forlan also has a successful international career, having scored 29 times for his country. He scored once in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, and five times in World Cup 2010, where he scored two goals against the host nation South Africa, once against Ghana in the quarter-finals, after fighting the Dutch in the semi-finals and once against Germany in third place play-off. Despite scoring five goals, Forlan was beaten to the Golden Boot by Thomas Müller Germany, because he also had 3 assists. David Villa of Spain won the Silver Boot. Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands won the Bronze Boot. However Forlan recognized with the Golden Ball award, given to the best player in the tournament.
Career Club
Early Career
Forlan, son and former Uruguay international Forlan Pablo, was a promising tennis player in his youth, but he decided to follow family tradition and concentrate on football when his sister Alejandra involved in a car accident that killed his girlfriend and left the intensive care five months later and disability. He played for several clubs in South America, including Argentina side Independiente, where he made his name as a goal scorer in soccer, before it attracted the attention of Europe and the transfer in January 2002 to play for Manchester United in England for a fee of £ 6.9 million.
Manchester United
While Forlan at Old Trafford was a disappointment, he enjoys the occasional purple patch scoring. He has the ability to score important goals, such as the late equalizer at home to Aston Villa and superb volley winner at the last minute of the home match against Chelsea during United's Premiership-winning 2002-03. He became a fan favorite when he scored two goals against Liverpool in a 2-1 victory at Anfield. During this period, Forlan became known to remove his shirt and showing off her body in a goal celebration. The first example is generating quite a funny scene: Forlan whipped his shirt in delight after scoring a 85th minute winner against Southampton in November 2002, but struggled to get back in time before playing again, so the scenery Forlan short walk around the Old Trafford pitch bare- chest with the shirt still in his hand, before recovering the ball for his team. The referee immediately stopped play and ordered off the field to dress Forlan.
Forlan record of 17 goals from 95 appearances for Manchester United do not compare well to 150 former teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy scored in 210 games, and is widely thought that he was not going to start the 2004-05 season at Man Utd team colors. That proved true when he signed for Villarreal CF in August 2004, the same month Wayne Rooney joined Manchester United.
Villarreal
Forlan was strongly associated with a move to Spanish club Levante UD and Athletic Bilbao (the latter because he is a descendant of Basque), but was signed on August 21, 2004 by another Spanish club, Villarreal CF, where he became the Spanish 2004-05 season Pichichi Trophy winner with 25 goals, helping Villareal to their first 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 had some changes, but in 2006-07, he hit form again, ending a season high in the charts valuation.
Atletico Madrid
Season 2007 - 2008
Forlan is associated with the transfer along with Juan Roman Riquelme to Atletico Madrid in exchange for Luis Perea money added in June 2007. On June 30, 2007, following the departure of their captain Fernando Torres to Liverpool, Atletico Madrid confirmed that they had agreed to 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 for whom he made his debut Manchester United), but the side lost 1-0 on aggregate. In May 2008, Forlan helped Atletico qualify for the Champions League for the first time in more than a decade, scoring the winning goal against Deportivo La Coruña. He ended his first season in Madrid with 23 goals, and forming strong partnerships with Argentina striker Sergio Agüero.
Season 2008 - 2009
On May 9, 2009, Forlan scored two goals against Espanyol to help Atletico won the Champions League qualification for the second consecutive year. Los Rojiblancos are trailing 2-0 in the first half and had seen Luis Perea sent, but returned to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Forlan competition of the season, and last-minute winner. He also scored important goals in the win over Barcelona, Villarreal and Valencia. On May 23, 2009, Forlan scored a hat-trick against Athletic Bilbao, who helped him win the La Liga Pichichi Trophy award, as well as the European Golden Boot for the second time. He ended the 2008-09 season with a very impressive 32 goals in 33 games.
Season 2009 - 2010
Forlan started the 2009-10 season slowly, and struggled for form as Atletico made their worst start to their league season since relegation in 2000. On October 24, 2009, Forlan scored a penalty and missed another as Atletico were held 1-1 at home against Mallorca, which has played most of the second half with only nine players on the field. Disappointing results and performance to protests from Atletico fans, and critics to Forlan, who then left out of the squad for the next game. Atlético began to improve after the arrival of new manager Quique Sanchez Flores, and once again, Forlan developed in the second half of the season, as Atlético reached the final of the European League and the Copa del Rey. On February 14, 2010, Forlan scored his first goal as Barcelona beat Atletico 2-1 at the Vicente Calderon, ultimately only lead to the Champions league defeat of the season. On 22 April 2010, Forlan scored the only game in Atlético's European League semi-final first leg at home to Liverpool. A week later, Liverpool took the tie into extra time before taking the lead 2-1 on aggregate.
Forlan then scored again to make it 2-2 on aggregate, giving Atlético away goal they needed to reach the finals, where they played against Fulham in Volksparkstadion on 12 May. Forlan scored two goals against Fulham in the final, in a 2-1 victory and awarded him the match. He ended the season with a total of 28 goals, including six in a successful campaign Atletico Europa League.
Season 2010 - 2011
2010-11 season begins with another trophy for Forlan and Atletico won the UEFA Super Cup, beating Internazionale 2-0 in Monaco on August 27, 2010. Again Forlan started the season slowly, and despite finding the net three times in the opening two league games, he then went 12 games in all competitions without a goal before scoring double in a 3-0 victory against Osasuna on 13 November. He speculated Real Madrid and United locomotive Seattle Sounders tried to sign him in the January transfer window.
International Career
Forlan made his debut for Uruguay on March 27, 2002, scored his first goal with a 2-3 friendly defeat against Saudi Arabia. During the 2002 World Cup, he scored a volley on the date of June 11, 2002 in the group stage 3-3 draw against Senegal. Although derived from three goals down to draw the game, Uruguay eliminated from the tournament along with France in Group A. He also scored a goal against Brazil in the 35th minute the 2007 Copa América semifinal. However, he lost a shot during the subsequent penalty shoot-out, which eventually won by Brazil 5-4. Since the 2007 Copa America, Forlan of Uruguay has become commonplace, often in the starting XI. On June 17, 2008, he scored a hat-trick in a World Cup qualifier against Peru.
Diego Forlan and Youri Djorkaeff are, respectively, members of Uruguay and the French troops, who met at the 2002 World Cup. their father, Pablo and Jean, featured in the match between Uruguay and France in the 1966 World Cup.
Forlan is currently only 8 games short of the all-time most capped players of Uruguay, Rodolfo Rodríguez goalkeeper, who played 79 times for his country, and only 2 goals behind leading scorer in the history of Uruguay, Hector Scarone, which has the country's top to international scored 31 goals for over 80 years.
2010 World Cup
On June 16, 2010, during the second group match in the World Cup in Uruguay in 2010 against South Africa, Forlan opened the scoring with a long-term effort. Later in the game, Forlan scored from the penalty spot for the second and third also had a hand in Uruguay, in a 3-0 win over the host country. On July 2, 2010, Forlan scored a free kick equalizer against Ghana in the quarter-finals. The match ended 1-1 and Uruguay advanced to the semifinals after beating Ghana 4-2 in a penalty shootout. On July 6, 2010, Forlan scored once again the long run, this time with his left foot to match against the Netherlands in the semifinals. Although the half time score 1-1, Uruguay eventually lost 3-2 as the Netherlands advanced to the finals. Forlan became the first player since Lothar Matthäus in 1990 to score three goals from outside the penalty box in one tournament. On July 10, 2010, Forlan scored a goal for the last time in this tournament when he netted a well-executed volley from the edge of the area to give Uruguay the lead. This purpose, from the past Arevalo Ríos, was selected by FIFA as the goal tournament. Forlan then hit the crossbar with the final kick of the match free kick when they lost to Germany 3-2 in the third place play-off. Forlan was awarded the Golden Ball as best player of the tournament. He was also selected to the team tournament, and is one of the top scorers in the World Cup with five goals.