Forlan Diego
Diego Forlán Corazo is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the manager of Peñarol. At club level, Forlán is a two-time winner of both the Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe. With the Uruguay national team, he had huge individual success at the 2010 World Cup, finishing as joint top scorer with five goals, including the goal of the tournament, and winning the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. Forlán began his career in his native Uruguay as a youth player with Peñarol and Danubio, before joining Argentine club Independiente. After rising through their youth team and after a successful four-year spell, he sealed a move to England with Manchester United in 2002. His form for United was not as successful as at Independiente, although he won the Premier League in 2002–03 and the FA Cup in 2003–04. In the summer of 2004, he moved on to Spanish side Villarreal. In his first season in Spanish football, he scored 25 league goals and won the Pichichi Trophy. After two more successful seasons with Villarreal, Forlán joined Atlético Madrid, where he once again became the league’s top scorer, and became the first player to win the Pichichi Trophy twice since Ronaldo in 1996–97 and 2003–04. Forlán scored in Atlético’s 2010 Europa League final victory against Fulham. In 2011, he joined Inter Milan of Italy before moving to Internacional in 2012. After spells in Japan with Cerezo Osaka, back in Uruguay with his boyhood club Peñarol, in India with Mumbai City and in Hong Kong with Kitchee, Forlán retired from professional football in August 2019. Forlán also had a successful international career, scoring 36 times for his country between his debut in 2002 and his retirement in 2015, including six goals at FIFA World Cups. On 12 July 2011, at the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, which Uruguay won, Forlán earned his 79th international cap in a match against Mexico, breaking the record held since 1986 by goalkeeper Rodolfo Rodríguez. On 20 June 2013, in a match against Nigeria at the 2013 Confederations Cup, Forlán became the first Uruguayan to win 100 caps. Forlán was Uruguay’s all-time leading top scorer from 2011 until Luis Suárez overtook him two years later.
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This shirt was worn by Diego Forlan during the friendly game between Estonia and Uruguay which took place in Tallinn, “A. Le Coq Arena”, on March 25th 2011. Estonia defeated Uruguay 2-0. The shirt was given after the game to an Internazionale F.C. medical member whom we got it from. Forlán’s 100th cap coming in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup match against Nigeria. On 11 October 2011, he scored his 32nd goal, which made him Uruguay’s top scorer of all time in official matches, beating Héctor Scarone who had held the record alone with 31 goals since 1930. (Scarone scored 42 goals in total, but 11 of them were in unofficial matches). Forlan best period with National Team was during the Fifa World Cup “South Africa 2010” when, on July 10th 2010, he scored for the final time in the tournament as he netted a well-executed volley from the edge of the area to give Uruguay the lead. This goal, from a pass by Egidio Arévalo Ríos, was selected by FIFA as the Goal of the Tournament. Forlán then hit the crossbar with the final kick of the game from a free kick as they lost to Germany 3–2 in the third place play-off. Forlán was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. He was also picked for the team of the tournament, and was the joint top scorer at the World Cup with five goals.
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Born in Montevideo, Forlán, son of former player and Uruguayan international Pablo Forlán, was a tennis player in his youth. He decided to follow the occupation of his father in playing football when his sister Alejandra was involved in a horrific car accident, which killed her boyfriend and left her in intensive care for five months and handicapped thereafter. In 1995, when he was 16, Forlán was brought to France by manager László Bölöni, and spent several months on trial at AS Nancy. However, the club opted against signing him, and Forlán returned to South America. Forlán’s 100th cap coming in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup match against Nigeria. On 11 October 2011, he scored his 32nd goal, which made him Uruguay’s top scorer of all time in official matches, beating Héctor Scarone who had held the record alone with 31 goals since 1930. (Scarone scored 42 goals in total, but 11 of them were in unofficial matches). Forlán was born into a family of footballers – his father Pablo having played for São Paulo (1970–1975) and Uruguay in the 1966 and 1974 World Cups, and his maternal grandfather, Juan Carlos Corazzo, for Independiente in Argentina. A founding member of Fundación Alejandra Forlán, headed by his sister, Forlán is outspoken on the perils of dangerous driving. Back in 1991, Alejandra suffered a car accident where she lost her boyfriend and became paralyzed as a result. Diego Maradona met Forlán’s father during that time, since he was a football player in the 1970s, and helped him raise funds for his daughter’s treatment. She became an integral part of his inspiration to play football, and the whole family has gathered round to make sure the foundation is given as high a profile as his in Uruguay. In 2009, Forlán appeared in a music video for Coti starring alongside Argentine footballer Maxi Rodríguez. Forlán announced on 9 March 2011 on his official Twitter page that he and Argentinian model/actress Zaira Nara were engaged to be married. In June 2011, however, Forlán and Nara announced they were breaking their engagement. No reason was released for the breakup. In late 2013, Forlán married Paz Cardoso and together the two had a son, Martín, in February 2016, and a daughter, Luz, in May 2017. In February 2019, their third child, César, was born.
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A talented, technically gifted, hardworking and creative player, with an eye for goal, Forlán is a quick, clever, complete and versatile forward, with a good positional sense, who is capable of playing anywhere along the front line. He has been deployed as a main striker, as a supporting forward, as an attacking midfielder, and even as a winger, often drifting onto the flank to begin attacking plays. He is capable of scoring with either foot, both from inside and outside the area, and he is also an accurate set-piece and penalty kick taker. In addition to his accurate finishing, movement, and goalscoring ability, Forlán is a skilful player, gifted with good technical ability and ball control, as well as good vision, passing ability, intelligence, and awareness on the ball; these attributes also enable him to be deployed in a more creative role, in which he can play-off of other players and drop into deeper positions to link-up the midfield with the attack, making him a capable assist provider. In addition to his footballing skills, Forlán has also been praised for his leadership and determination throughout his career.
