Diego Forlan

He is Uruguayan football player. He has superb skills and superb goals. Atletico Madrid expects much from him.

Diego Martín Forlán Corazo (born May 19, 1979) is a Uruguayan footballer who currently plays for Atlético Madrid of La Liga. He was born in Montevideo into a family of footballers. His father Pablo Forlán had played for the national football team during the 1974 FIFA World Cup held in West Germany and his grandfather Juan Carlos Corazzo played for Argentine CA Independiente. He has dual citizenship: Uruguayan and Spanish.
A promising tennis player in his youth, he decided however to follow the family tradition and concentrate on football when he was 12 after his sister, Alejandra Forlan, was involved in a car accident that instantly killed her boyfriend and left her 5 months on a respirator in intensive care, and his family did not have the funds to care for her. He played for several South American clubs including Argentine side Independiente before transferring in January 2002 to play for Manchester United in England for a fee of £6.9 million.
He made his début for the team on January 29 against Bolton Wanderers but did not score his first goal for the club, a penalty, until August 18 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 FA Premier League-winning season of 2002-3. 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 a last minute winner against Southampton in December 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. The referee soon stopped play and ordered Forlán off the pitch to get dressed.
Diego did manage to endear himself to the United faithful however, stemming from one particular match. When United faced Liverpool at Anfield in 2002-3, they went into the game on the back of successive defeats. The game itself remained even into the second half, only for Jerzy Dudek to make a mistake, fumbling a backheader from Jamie Carragher, leaving Forlán to tap the ball into an empty net and celebrate with the jubilant away following. Minutes later, he doubled United's lead, blasting the ball home after leaving Sami Hyypia behind. Eventually, the game finished 2-1 in United's favour, and the United fans remember Forlán for his wonderful performance and crucial goals on that day. This even led to the fans creating a chant for him: "Diego whoa, Diego whoa, He comes from Uruguay, He made the Scousers cry"; which is still sung to this day in memory of the defeat of United's bitter rvials.
Forlán's record of 17 goals from 95 appearances for the club does not compare favorably against his former team mate 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 colors. Wayne Rooney's arrival on the English club eventually signaled the end of his playing days at United.
Forlán was strongly linked to a move to Spanish club Levante, but signed on 21 August 2004 with another Spanish club, Villarreal, where he became the Spanish 2004-05 season "pichichi" (top scorer) 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. He has remained grateful to United, however, and in particular to Sir Alex Ferguson, because (in his own words) "What I learnt in Manchester was, in some ways, a positive experience that has contributed to my success." Forlán has stated that he would never criticise United or their manager because he would one day like to return to England to play for them, after having re-established himself.
Forlán had a release clause of £15m and was linked with Liverpool, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Arsenal. However, he was reluctant to move until the conditions were suitable as he did not want to unnecessarily relocate his disabled sister.
He was linked to transfer with Juan Román Riquelme to Atlético Madrid in exchange for Luis Perea and money in June 2007. On 30th June 2007 Atlético Madrid confirmed that they had agreed a fee of around £14.1 million.
He has since scored against Brazil in the 35 minute of a thrilling semi final of the 2007 Copa America. However he missed his shot during the subsequent penalty shootout which Brazil ultimately won 5-4.


At. Madrid
9 May 1979
Source: Wikipedia