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Diego Martín Forlán Corazo (born 19 May 1979) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the best forwards of his generation, Forlán is a two-time winner of both the Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe at club level. 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.[4] Forlán was Uruguay's all-time leading top scorer from 2011 until Luis Suárez overtook him two years later.
Honours
Manchester United
Villarreal
Atlético Madrid
Internacional
Peñarol
Kitchee
Uruguay
Individual
- La Liga Ibero-American Player of the Year: 2004–05
- Pichichi Trophy: 2004–05, 2008–09
- European Golden Shoe: 2004–05, 2008–09
- FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 2010
- FIFA World Cup Goal of the Tournament: 2010
- FIFA World Cup Top Scorer: 2010
- FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2010
- UEFA Europa League Final Man of The Match: 2010
- Campeonato Gaúcho Top Scorer: 2013
