Diego Forlán
Diego Martín Forlán Corazo (born May 19 1979) is a Uruguayan footballer who currently plays for Villarreal 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
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, he played for several South American clubs, including Argentine CA Independiente before transferring in January 2002 to play for Manchester United in England for a fee of £6.9 million.
He made his debut 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 "Garry Birtles" for his goal drought by some quarters of the English press.
Forlan 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, Forlan 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; Forlan 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 Forlan briefly running around the Old Trafford pitch bare-chested, with his shirt still in his hand. The referee soon stopped play and ordered Forlan off the pitch to get dressed.
Forlan cemented his place as a cult hero at Old Trafford when he scored both United goals in a 2-1 win over bitter rivals Liverpool at Anfield. Helped in small part by bumbling Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, this two-goal display has achieved infamy among United fans, and notoriety of a different kind for Liverpool supporters. Forlan's goals were re-enacted by a group of United fans who invaded the pitch prior to the United-Liverpool clash at Old Trafford the following season. The group, led by serial prankster Carl Power, were ejected and banned from Old Trafford for life.
Forlan's record of 17 goals from 95 appearances for the club does not compare favourably against team mate Ruud van Nistelrooy's 110 goals in 136 games, and it was widely thought that he would not start the 2004-05 season in the Red Devils team colours. Wayne Rooney's arrival on the English club eventually signalled the end of his playing days at United.
Forlan 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 Top Scorer with 25 goals, helping them 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." Forlan 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.