Biography

Diego Forlán is a Uruguayan striker that plays for Atletico Madrid and the Uruguayan national team.

Born in a family of footballer where his father was also a Uruguayan international, Diego Forlán will however choose tennis where he was quite promising. But when his sister met with an accident Diego Forlán decided to follow his family tradition and focus on football.

He will begin his professional career in 1998 with Independiente. Very agile in front of goal Diego Forlán will attract attention from all around the world.

In 2001, after three seasons spent in Argentina, the player signs for Manchester United for a fee that is worth £6.9 million. However his career in England will be very difficult as he will have some troubles to adapt himself. Despite making his debut in January he will have to wait for 8 months to score his first goal. It was a penalty in the Champions League. Ultimately he will score only 17 goals in 95 appearances and he was transferred to Villareal in August 2004.

It is with the Spanish side that Forlán will be able to show his talents on the European scene. He will win the 2004–05 season Pichichi Trophy with 25 goals and also help Villareal secure their first participation in the Champions League. However he will experience a decline in his form during the 2005/2006 season as Villareal will be having some problems off the field.

In the 2006/2007 season he will again find his goal scoring form and help his team in La Liga. Seeing his form Atletico Madrid will sign him in June 2007 in order to replace Torres that has chosen to move to Liverpool. He will again win the La Liga Pichichi Trophy award, with 32 goals in 33 matches for the 2008/2009 season. He wall also clinch the European Golden Boot for a second time.

On the international scene Diego Forlán has also experienced his fair dose of success. He will make his debut for the Uruguayan national team in 2002 and he will score in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. However his best performance in an international tournament will be at the 2010 World Cup. He will score his first goal in the second group game against South Africa. He will keep on scoring during the tournament against Ghana, Netherlands and Germany to ensure that Uruguay finished fourth in the tournament. One of his goals was selected as being the goal of the tournament.  He was also awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.