Diego Forlan: Barcelona, Messi and Lewandowski are in – my end-of-year awards from 2015

Our columnist picks out highlights from 2015, including a Lionel Messi wondergoal.

Diego Forlan picked Lionel Messi, left, as his player of the year, and Luis Enrique as coach. Marta Perez / EPA

Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing in print each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan’s column is written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.

I hope you have enjoyed 2015 as much as I have. I still feel blessed to be playing professional football in a successful side at 35. I started the year in Japan, where I have had a great time in Osaka.

Then I announcement my retirement from international football before joining Penarol, the team of my family.

I am back home, but I still watch a lot of football and speak to a lot of people. Here are my most memorable moments from 2015.

Goal of the year

Robert Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes; a magnificent feat which I don’t think can be done again. Five goals in one game happens once every decade in a league; he scored them in nine minutes.

He is excellent for Bayern Munich and for Poland and was the top scorer in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, but the fifth of those goals – a volley - just left me laughing at his brilliance. It was against a strong team in Wolfsburg, the team who had finished second. He had not even started the game but came off the bench at half-time and then bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

He has scored 26 goals in 26 appearances for Bayern so far this season. That puts him among the very best.

Team of the year

Barcelona. How could it be anyone else? They won five trophies; they raised their game for the biggest matches.

They are at their best in March, April and May when those huge games come twice a week.

South American team of the year

River Plate. Under a talented young manager Marcelo Gallardo who was a former River player, they won the Copa Sud Americana and then Copa Libertadores.

They played Barca in the Club World Cup final, but the best South American teams cannot compete with the best European teams. They are miles apart financially.

Player of the Year

Lionel Messi. He is the best player in the best team in the world. He remains a game changer, the one who provide a magic moment like no other. He scored lots of incredible goals – my favourite was when he chipped Manuel Neuer in the Uefa Champions League semi-final. He should win the Ballon d’Or again.

Read more: Diego Forlan: I loved busy Christmas with Manchester United but it's nice to enjoy a break

South American Player of Year

Carlos Sanchez, the Uruguayan who plays at No 8 in midfield for Uruguay.

He scores goals, he is good with set pieces. He is 31 and didn’t make his national team debut until he was 29, but he is become an important player since.

He was vital for River Plate as they won the Libertadores last season. Now he has moved to Mexico to play his club football.

Best manager

Luis Enrique. Another obvious one. What I like about him is that he has got control of a dressing room with some of the biggest players in the world. A manager needs to be very strong at the biggest clubs, but in his first season he won the respect of those players and improved them.

Bayern’s Pep Guardiola is still an incredible manager, but when his team came up against his former teammate Enrique, he was outsmarted.

Best international team

I am not an expert on Wales, but I was really impressed when I saw them, especially against Belgium, who are now ranked first in the world.

Wales is like Uruguay, a country of three million. They are used to being David against Goliath. We mastered the art of being David long ago; I am glad that Wales have learned too.

Biggest disappointment

The Netherlands. So many great players, so much history of playing great football and doing well in competition. They should be fighting for trophies. Instead, they are not even going to Euro 2016.

Best fans

When I returned to Uruguay, I was introduced to Penarol fans during a friendly game. Wow. There were 30,000 there to welcome me back and I felt a lot of love and support. We won the opening stage of the league and we will play in the Libertadores in February, when we will move to a new stadium.

Young South America Player

Mauro Alambarri is a 20-year-old midfielder playing at Defensor Sporting in Montevideo. He scores, he knows how to move with the ball and gets around the pitch. He has been playing under 20 level for the national team. Watch out for him.

South American player to watch for in Europe

Matias Kranevitter, a 22-year-old midfielder who played for River Plate on loan from Atletico Madrid. He has just moved to Madrid and I expect big things from him in Spain.

Most intriguing game

I was fascinated when Juventus played Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League semi-final. Madrid had all these great players, but Juventus, with an experienced defence, were masters at defending and frustrating them. Yet they had to change their tactics mid-match after going behind or they were out on the away goal. Madrid were set to play Barcelona for the first time in European Cup final. Juve got their goal … and it came from one of their former players Alvaro Morata.

Madrid then launched a full on assault. They desperately needed a player behind their attackers to unlock the Juventus defence. They had that player a year earlier when they won the Champions League in Angel di Maria. But he was no longer at the club, having been sold to Manchester United.

Madrid went out, Barca won the cup and Madrid fired their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, a former Juventus coach.

A happy 2016 to you all.

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