The Ones That Got Away: Diego Forlán

He came from Uruguay, made the Scousers cry.

Who could forget those goals against Liverpool; the frenzied celebration and the failure to get his shirt back on against Southampton at Old Trafford; being there (eventually), somehow, when we needed a goal?

Diego Forlán didn't have an illustrious career while at United, yet the fans still sing his name every now and then, when revisiting the good memories of that fateful day at Anfield.
After going 8 months and 27 matches without scoring a goal, even I admit I was wondering who this guy was. With Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring for fun, literally, it was hard to see Forlán breaking into the first team as regularly and faithfully as the more prolific of that generation.

After 2 years of underwhelming achievements, he made the switch. Signing for Villareal—a pre-cursor of things to come at United, seeing as the other 1TGA Rossi also signed for the Yellow Submarine—and in his first season, netting 25 goals and also getting his hands on the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the league's top scorer. From bench-warmer to top-scorer. Why didn't we keep a hold of him!? In the three seasons he spent at Villareal, he scored 59 times in all competitions from 128 appearances. Now, that's 30 more games (about a season) more, but 42 goals more (17 goals, 98 apps) than his United tenure.

Forlán was linked to transfer with team-mate Juan Román Riquelme to Atlético Madrid in exchange for Luis Perea and money in June 2007. On 30 June 2007, following the departure of their captain Fernando Torres to Liverpool, Atlético Madrid confirmed that they had agreed to a fee of around €21 million.

And he's currently enjoying a prolific spell as Atlético's main man. His second season for them seeing him net THIRTY-FIVE, 35, TREINTA Y CINCO goals, and his second Pichichi Trophy. Some player.

Then he goes and wins the Golden Ball playing for Uruguay, top scoring (along with like 3 other dudes, they might be famous and good too) at the World Cup. Some player.

Moral of the story? If a player scores against Liverpool, and the fans still sing his name for it, he'll come good sooner or later.