Diego Forlan proves ‘Flop’ critics wrong – AGAIN!
Forlan was a constant threat throughout. His movement not just in the box, but in supporting areas was second to none and he always seemed to be in the right position at the right time – his first goal proving just that. A miss hit Sergio Aguero shot fell to Forlan who was there to divert the ball expertly past Mark Schwarzer. His winner came four minutes from the end of extra time. Great work down the left from Aguero gave Forlan the chance to flick the ball into the far corner via a deflection from the unlucky Brede Hangeland. This was the second time the Uruguayan had struck to defeat an English team in the competition after he scored another extra time, away winning goal to knock Liverpool out of Europe at the semi-final stage, consequently summing the Merseyside club to a torrid season.
The ex-red, who scored only 17 goals in 95 appearances at United, has now demonstrated what a good striker he really is, and has proven why Sir Alex Ferguson paid nearly 7million pounds for him back in 2002. His domestic form says it all, 35 goals last season, 32 coming in the league-decisively La Liga’s top scorer. Not to forget, that’s taking into consideration the other ‘world class’ strikers that were on show: Samuel Eto’o, David Villa, Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Thierry Henry to name a few.
He’s scored 18 goals this season and is a vastly improved player than the one we signed in 2002. Along with his young striking partner Sergio Aguero, I expect him to move on to better things next season and who says he won’t return for a second spell in the Premier League?
Whatever the case, I think we can all now see why Fergie’s decided to sign what was the promising Uruguayan forward. Unfortunately his spell at the club was not a roaring success however eight years on, Diego Forlan has sure proved what a top European striker he really is.