Who today does not know who Fernando Morientes is? His biography and sports career is full of brilliant victories and virtuoso goals. Lev Yashin, Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Gerd Muller, Pele - all these people are called the legends of world football. But the name of Fernando Morientes can rightfully be added to this list. How did the star light up and what is its place in the constellation "Galaxy"?
Biography
Fernando Morientes was born on April 5, 1976 in the Spanish town of Cáceres. He played football from the age of 5 at a sports school in Toledo. At 17, he made his professional debut as an example. Then he played as part of the Albacete team and immediately proved himself to be a brilliant scorer, scoring four goals for his opponents. After that, Fernando Morientes changed six football clubs and was noted everywhere as a talented striker.
The first on the list was Zaragoza. Here the talent of a football player was revealed to the full. In just two years of playing for the football club, Morientes Fernando “dashed” 34 goals. After such a triumph, the player needed an appropriate club. In 1997, he received an invitation from Fabio Capello to Real Madrid. The coach vouched for the young football player in front of his superiors, and he met his expectations, scoring 16 goals in the first season. True, the stay in the new club was not serene. I had to share playing time with Davor Shuker and Predrag Miyatovic.
In 1998, Morientes Fernando was in the national team. Together with Raul Gonzalez, he created a grand duet, crowding out all competitors. One of the bright and beautiful victories of the duet was the defeat of Valencia in the Champions League in 2000.
In 2003, in support of the French club "Monaco" Morientes Fernando on loan played for him for a year. He quickly became a bright leader of the team and went around Lokomotiv, his native Real, Chelsea, ruthlessly scoring balls. Morientes brought Monaco to the Champions League final, losing to Porto (Portugal) in the decisive game. Nevertheless, Fernando became the top scorer of the season, having rolled 9 goals.
After that, the Spanish striker returned to Real Madrid, but there he was only waiting for the bench, since the club invited Michael Owen to the team. This disappointment did not last long. Already in 2005, it officially became known that Fernando Morientes was bought by English Liverpool for 9.3 million euros.
The striker, however, did not stay there long. A year later, ironically, the footballer moved to Valencia, where he created another “punch” duet with footballer David Villa. In the Champions League (2006-2007) they scored 39 goals (for two). In 2009, the contract with Valencia ended, and the player moved to Marseille. A year later, Morientes Fernando officially announced the completion of a professional career.
The Spanish footballer has been married for about twenty years. His wife, Maria Victoria Lopez, gave Fernando a son and three daughters. The son is named after his father.
Play style
Of course, in world football there are players who have long surpassed the Spanish scorer in terms of goals. But no one has yet been able to repeat the style that Fernando Morientes created. The striker is known as a virtuoso finisher. He literally “pounded” the balls with his head into the opponents' goal. In the game, Morientes did not tolerate uniformity, and therefore was unpredictable, fast, giving unexpected passes and volume to matches.
Goal stats
Over the course of an active career in clubs, the Spanish scorer scored 100 goals. Of these, a larger number were rolled in the period 2006-2007 as part of FC Valencia (38 goals). The next two seasons Fernando played with dignity, but without enthusiasm. Sports analysts dubbed this time the "slow fading" of a star named Fernando Morientes. All the same, he scored goals during this period regularly (24 goals in two season of the Champions League).
Until recently, Morientes Fernando took the honorable fourth place in the ranking of the best Spanish scorers, behind David Villiers, Raul Gonzalez and his namesake Fernando Hierro in terms of goals.
Achievements
As part of Real Madrid, Morientes was a three-time winner of the Champions League, two-time champion of Spain, and also one time winner of the European Super Cup, two times the Intercontinental Cup, three times the Spanish Super Cup.
The Liverpool footballer helped to conquer the European Super Cup and the FA Cup.
For “Valencia” forward acquired the Spanish Cup.
As part of Marseille, Morientes became the champion of France and the owner of the French League Cup.
In addition, Fernando has personal rewards. So, in the Champions League 2003-2004. he became the top scorer and finalist of the Champions League.
Interesting Facts
Fernando Morientes has two professional nicknames: Nando (short for Fernando) and El Moro (Moor). The latter was assigned to the footballer when he played for Real Madrid.
The Barcelona football club offered 22 million euros for the Spanish scorer, but did not pull his salary rate.
Fernando Morientes took 25th place in the ranking of the most beautiful football players in the world. Behind him is a friend and colleague of the Spanish striker - Raul Gonzalez.
In 2002, in the quarterfinals, Real played with the South Korean team. During the game, the Koreans scored a goal for themselves, but the referee Gamal Gandur refused to accept it. In extra time, Real Madrid took the opponents' goal, but the ball cleverly scored by Fernando Morientes was not counted. This was later recognized as a judicial error. But the course of the Champions League was no longer changing. These two points could be decisive for Real Madrid and lead him to the semifinals with the German national team.
