Team ahead of self for Forlan
MUMBAI: Team means more than the individual according to former Manchester United and Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan.
The 37-year-old Mumbai City FC’s marquee player for the 2016 Indian Super League season said on Friday that he considered his individual goal-scoring trophies as being important only when his goals helped the team.
“It’s always the trophies you win with the team which are the best ones,” Forlan told reporters in his first press conference in Mumbai since returning from a 35-day pre-season training camp with the team in Dubai.
“Football is a team game and not an individual one. Of course, every individual trophy I won was really good for me. But they are only really special when you win them with a team.”
DIEGO’S LAURELS
Of the many awards Forlan has won, the Golden Ball as best player of the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 Copa America trophy with Uruguay are his most illustrious achievements.
He also finished the World Cup campaign as joint top scorer apart from being La Liga top scorer in the 2004-05 and 2008-09 seasons — ending as top scorer in Europe in both seasons as well.
“I have won the Golden Boot twice,” Forlan continued. “Every time that I have won it was special for me because the goals that I scored to win it, those goals were important for the team to qualify, reach another stage of the tournament, or to become champions.
“I didn’t score those goals so I could win the Golden Boot. It’s always nice to win things but winning a title with a team is the best.”
Forlan won the 2002-03 Premier League, 2003 Community Shield and 2003-04 FA Cup during his two-year stint with Manchester United, and the 2009-10 Europa League and 2010 Uefa Super Cup while at Atletico Madrid.
He also spent time with Inter Milan and Brazil’s Internacional before joining Cerezo Osaka in Japan’s J-League. Forlan and Mumbai City played four friendly matches while in Dubai, winning two of them and drawing two to return to India unbeaten.
Unfortunately for the team from the Maximum City, four players will miss Mumbai City FC’s opening five matches as they play the semifinals of the 2016 AFC Cup with Bengaluru FC. The four players are striker Sunil Chhetri, goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, forward Udanta Singh and defender Lalchhuanmawai Fanai. Udanta and Fanai are currently injured. The four players are set to join the Mumbai City squad on October 20 if Bengaluru FC fail to reach the final, or after November 5 if they play the final.
