Diego Forlan: From Man United to Spain, Italy and Japan, it’s great to be home at Penarol

After an accomplished career that has taken in all corners of the globe, Diego Forlan shares his experiences from his first few days at Penarol, the hometown club where he began his youth career.

Most of my friends and family came along to my presentation. I ran alongside the pitch with my two nephews saying hello to fans and my father presented me with his old No 4 shirt. Carlos Lebrato / EPA

Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing 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 will be written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.

The ball came to me at the side of the pitch, just outside the edge of the area. I was going to dribble or cross it, but the defender stood off me and gave me space.

Behind the goal in the historic Centenario, venue of the first World Cup final, in 1930, were thousands of fans in yellow and black, the colours of the team I have supported all my life: Penarol.

It’s the team my father played for, the team who have been South American champions five times. A club in Uruguay, a country of just three million.

No Brazilian team, from a country of 200 million, has a better record than Penarol or their main rivals, Nacional.

I had wanted to play for Penarol since I was a boy. When I was young, I would go to their training ground but, at 18, I left Uruguay for Argentina and my professional career started.

I would never play a game of professional club football in my own country. Until now.

When I left Japan recently I had options to play in the United States, Australia, the UAE and Europe. Some were lucrative and appealing, but I wanted to play for Penarol.

I wanted to go home, to put the famous shirt on while I’m still in good condition. People have high expectations of me and I want to fulfil them.

I wanted to play in the Montevideo derby against Nacional, rated as one of the best in the world. I wanted to play in Penarol’s new 40,000-capacity stadium which opens in a few months. And I wanted to be close to my friends and family and not to keep one eye on the clock when I’m with them because I have a flight to catch to the other side of the world.

So I signed. I now train 10 minutes from home at a modern training ground where we sleep before games.

Sunday was my first game, my presentation to the fans in a friendly against Wanderers, a strong, young team who did well in the Copa Libertadores at the start of the year.

It’s winter in Uruguay and the weather was poor last week; cold, rainy, yet humid. The Centenario is a largely open stadium and I was worried about the crowd, but the weather improved dramatically on Sunday.

Most of my friends and family came along, though not the Nacional fans. I ran alongside the pitch with my two nephews saying “hello” to fans and my father presented me with his old No 4 shirt.

He played for Penarol when they won the Copa Libertadores in 1966. First they knocked Nacional out, then they played River Plate from across that river in Buenos Aires. Penarol won 2-0 in the home leg but lost the away leg 3-2. Now, away goals would count. Then, a third play-off game was required.

The game was held in Santiago, Chile. River led 2-0 at half time. They thought they had won and started to get a little fancy in their play. Their goalkeeper showboated and saved one shot with his chest when his hands would have sufficed.

The Penarol players thought this was disrespectful. It spurred them on and they scored twice to take the game to extra time. Then Penarol scored twice more in extra time to become champions.

To this day, we call River Plate the "Gallinas" – the chickens – because they bottled it. Penarol then beat Real Madrid in the Inter Continental trophy; a better team beating the richer club.

I was three when Penarol won their fourth Libertadores. By chance, the final was again in Santiago as a Chilean team reached it and was decided by an 89th-minute goal, the only goal over two legs. Can you imagine what it must have been like, scoring in front of 70,000 Chileans supporting their own team, in the last minute?

I can remember vividly Penarol’s fifth title, in 1987. My father took me to the final group games against River Plate and Independiente. I remember the noise in a packed Centenario. Everybody was calling my father asking for tickets, but there were none to be had.

I was proud to be a Penarol fan in school the next day, as I was when we won the final, which was again decided by a play-off in Santiago – a lucky venue for Penarol.

Colombian team America de Cali were the favourites. We had a party at home and watched on TV.

Guess what happened? Cali thought they had won. Their fans were singing about being champions, but Penarol scored another last-minute goal, this time in the final minute of extra time. The goal was almost exactly the same as the winner in the previous triumph, too.

Now I’m a Penarol player and on Sunday 35,000 fans chanted “Diego! Diego!” I see faces at the training ground who played with my father. I love it, but I’m hired to play well and score.

So when the ball came to me, I saw my chance and hit a left foot shot from the edge of the area. It curled and rose into the top corner of the goal, a really beautiful moment for me.

The league starts this weekend; the Libertadores in February. It’s a tough league – look how many Uruguayan players go to Europe.

The pitches are not as fast as Europe and the grass is longer, which makes for a slower game. Everyone wants to beat Penarol – it’s like being with Manchester United again – but we aim to win everything. And it’s wonderful to be playing back at home.

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