Diego Forlán

Diego Forlán Corazo (born May 19 1979) is an Uruguayan football (soccer) 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 Uruguay national football team during the 1974 FIFA World Cup held in West Germany and his grandfather Juan Carlos Corazzo played for Club Atlético Independiente (Argentina). He has dual citizenship: Uruguay and Spain.

Club career

Early career

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 Argentina side Club Atlético Independiente before transferring in January 2002 to play for Manchester United F.C. in FA Premier League for a fee of £6.9 million.

Manchester United

He made his début for the team on January 29 against Bolton Wanderers F.C. but did not score his first goal for the club, a penalty, until August 18 in a UEFA Champions League game against Maccabi Haifa F.C.. 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 F.C. and the remarkable volleyed winner in the last minutes of the home game against Chelsea F.C. during United's FA Premier League-winning season of 2002-03 in English football. During this period, Forlán became known for characteristically removing his shirt and baring his torso in goal celebration. 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 F.C. 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 (football) pitch bare-chested, with his shirt still in his hand. The referee soon stopped play and ordered Forlán off the pitch to get dressed.

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 in English football 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.

Villarreal

Forlán was strongly linked to a move to Spain club Levante UD, but signed on 21 August 2004 with another Spanish club, Villarreal CF, where he became the La Liga 2004-05 season "Pichichi Trophy" (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 FC, Sunderland AFC, Aston Villa FC and Arsenal FC. However, he was reluctant to move until the conditions were suitable as he did not want to unnecessarily relocate his disabled sister.

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 June 30 2007, Atlético Madrid confirmed that they had agreed a fee of around € 21 million.

International career

Forlán has since scored against Brazil in the 35th 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