#ElAnuncioDeForlan | "El motivo de esta conferencia es anunciar mi renuncia a la selección uruguaya de fútbol"
— OVACIÓN (@ovacionuy) March 12, 2015
(Translation: The theme of this conference is to announce my retirement from the Uruguayan National Team.)
Last night, it was announced that Diego Forlan would be retiring from international duty with Uruguay. While Forlan’s star has certainly waned in the last few years, moving from Atletico Madrid to Inter Milan to Internacional in Brazil to Cerezo Osaka in Japan, this will come as big news to many. In his time, Forlan was one of the top strikers in La Liga and the top performer at the 2010 World Cup. His delivery on free kicks and wonderful goals earned him a deserved Golden Ball in that tournament. Forlan also held the record for most international goals for Uruguay until Luis Suarez overtook his record in July 2013.
A player renowned for his set piece skill and his finishing ability, Forlan was considered one of the hottest properties at Argentina’s Independiente, scoring 37 goals in 80 appearances. He was swept up by Manchester United in 2002 for 6.9 million pounds, where he would make 63 appearances and score 10 goals. He was unfortunately labelled a flop and moved to Spain with Villarreal in 2004. Rebuilding his reputation there, Forlan scored 54 goals in 106 appearances. Finally, in 2007, Forlan transferred to Atletico Madrid for a fee of 21 million Euros. Atletico became the club he is most associated with. Brought in to replace former captain Fernando Torres, who had transferred to Liverpool, Forlan would go on to become a talisman at the club, scoring 74 goals in 134 appearances and striking up a deadly partnership with Sergio Aguero.
In the summer of 2011, it was confirmed that Forlan would be moving to Inter Milan, where he would replace Samuel Eto’o. His stay would be short, moving to Internacional in Brazil the next season, before moving to Japan with Cerezo Osaka the season after that. He certainly isn’t retired, however, if this recent goal is anything to go by.
Below is a video of some of his best goals and skills for both club and country. Uruguay is losing a great player today.
