Fernando Morientes
Fernando Morientes Sánchez is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker.
He played for a number of clubs during his career, including Real Madrid, Monaco, Liverpool and Valencia. In La Liga, he scored 124 goals in 337 games over 15 seasons and started in four Champions League finals between 1998 and 2004. He earned 11 major honours while at Madrid, including three Champions League trophies.
Morientes earned 47 caps for the Spain national team, representing the country in two World Cups and Euro 2004. He later worked briefly as a manager.
Club career
Early career
Born in Cilleros, Cáceres, Extremadura, Morientes moved to Sonseca in the Province of Toledo at the age of four. He began his professional career at Albacete Balompié, making his La Liga debut on 7 November 1993 as a 75th-minute substitute for Alejandro in a 2–3 loss against CD Tenerife at the Estadio Carlos Belmonte, and he made one more appearance that season, also from the bench.On 23 October 1994, soon after coming on as a first-half replacement for Alberto Monteagudo, Morientes scored his first professional goal, opening a 2–0 home win over Racing de Santander. He got his first start a week later in a 5–1 loss at RCD Español, and finished the campaign with a total of five goals in 20 league games; additionally, he found the net in each leg of a 3–2 aggregate win over holders Real Zaragoza in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey.
Morientes signed with Zaragoza in 1995, where he spent another two seasons, often being partnered up front by Dani, a Real Madrid youth graduate. He made his debut on 9 September away to Real Betis, scoring the team's goal after 48 minutes but being sent off seven minutes later for striking Jaime. On 10 January of the following year, he scored his first professional hat-trick in a 3–2 win at Athletic Bilbao for the domestic cup; his first such feat in the league followed on 3 February in a 4–1 victory over Valencia CF at La Romareda, and eight days later he scored the first goal at SD Compostela and also received his marching orders with his team winning 2–1.
Real Madrid
Morientes' performances for Zaragoza caught the eye of Spanish giants Real Madrid, which bought the player in the summer of 1997 for approximately €6.6 million. Initially backing up established Predrag Mijatović and Davor Šuker, he finished as starter and managed 12 goals in his first year in 33 matches, squad-best ; the team finished fourth in the league, but won the season's UEFA Champions League.Morientes performed very well in the 1998–99 campaign, scoring 19 goals in the league and 25 in 38 appearances overall. He continued to display top football in 1999–2000, netting 19 times and finishing as Real's top scorer in a year where he also helped to the capital side's second Champions League title in three years, scoring in the 3–0 defeat of Valencia CF in an all-Spanish final. In the next season, he won the first of two league titles with the club and netted ten goals overall, including four in eight appearances in the Champions League in a semi-final exit to eventual winners FC Bayern Munich; he missed the last weeks due to injury.
In 2001–02, Real failed to win the league after losing out to Valencia. Morientes continued his scoring form, however, scoring 18 league goals in only 25 starts, with six substitute appearances. He also netted five in a 7–0 demolition of UD Las Palmas, missing out on a double hat-trick after missing from the penalty spot late in the match. He finished second in the top scorers list, tied with Patrick Kluivert and behind Deportivo de La Coruña's Diego Tristán, as the Merengues were successful in winning the Champions League after beating Bayer 04 Leverkusen – he played in the final and received a third winners medal.
In the summer of 2002, Real Madrid signed Brazilian superstar Ronaldo from Inter Milan. This fueled rumours that Morientes would soon be leaving, with FC Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur reportedly interested – the former were reportedly on the verge of signing the player for around €22 million, but the move fell through due to Barça's reluctance to match his wage demands. Eventually, he decided to stay, but as predicted he did not feature as much after the arrival of Ronaldo, who was preferred in the starting lineup along with Raúl. He eventually fell down the pecking order of strikers to Guti and Javier Portillo and, during a February 2003 home win against Borussia Dortmund – 2–1 in the Champions League second group stage – was involved in a highly publicised spat with manager Vicente del Bosque, with the player allegedly insulting the coach after being called to enter the pitch as a third replacement in the dying minutes; in the winter transfer window, despite continuous rumours of moves to Tottenham, Zaragoza, AS Roma and AC Milan, he remained at the club for remainder of the season as the side went on to win the league, with the player making a total of 19 appearances and scoring five goals.
Monaco loan and return
At the start of the 2003–04 season, it was evident Morientes was not part of Real's plans. After extensive but ultimately unsuccessful negotiations regarding a loan deal with Germany's FC Schalke 04, he was loaned to Ligue 1 side AS Monaco FC, where he performed very well, netting ten times from 28 appearances in the league. It was in the Champions League, however, that he really made an impact, finishing as top scorer at nine goals: Monaco met Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, where he scored a vital away goal in the first leg ; in the second match, he again found the net as his team won 3–1, taking the aggregate score to 5–5. He also scored in both games of the last-four win against Chelsea, but could not prevent a 3–0 defeat in the final to FC Porto, played at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen.After returning to Real Madrid at the start of the 2004–05 campaign, Morientes' hopes of forcing his way into the squad were further dampened with the arrival of Michael Owen from Liverpool. He featured in 13 scoreless league matches, and was transferred to Liverpool in January 2005 for a fee of €9.3 million. During his time at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium he played 272 games in all competitions, scoring 100 goals.
Liverpool
Morientes made his debut for Liverpool on 15 January 2005 against Manchester United, starting in a 0–1 home loss to the rivals – BBC Sport described his performance as "quiet". He scored his first goal for the club on 1 February, equalising with a 20-yard strike in a 2–1 win at Charlton Athletic, and he followed it four days later with his first goal at Anfield to open a 3–1 win over Fulham after nine minutes. He was cup-tied for the Champions League campaign, and did not feature in the victory against Milan in the final of the competition.On 10 August 2005, Morientes scored in each half of a 3–1 away win against PFC CSKA Sofia in the first leg of the third qualifying round for the season's Champions League. His form in the league was inconsistent, but on 10 December he netted a five-minute brace in a 2–0 home defeat of Middlesbrough, their seventh in a row. On 21 March 2006, he scored in a 7–0 rout of Birmingham City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, finishing Steven Gerrard's cross three minutes after entering in place of Peter Crouch. Liverpool went on to win the tournament, and the player replaced Harry Kewell early in the second half of the final against West Ham United.
Morientes totalled 12 goals in 61 appearances, also winning the 2005 UEFA Super Cup and playing on the losing side in the 2005 Football League Cup final and the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship final. He ultimately failed to live up to his reputation.
Valencia
Morientes joined Valencia in late May 2006 for a fee reported to be around £3 million. Here, he started to regain his form, scoring on his league debut – a 2–1 home win against Betis– and also netting a hat-trick in his first Champions League appearance against Olympiacos FC. He linked up well with David Villa and scored 12 goals in 24 games, and was also team-top scorer in the Champions League with seven; his good form throughout the season also earned him a recall to the national side.For 2007–08, Morientes and Villa were joined in the strike force by Nikola Žigić and Javier Arizmendi. The campaign, however, was disappointing, as the Che were knocked out of the Champions League after finishing fourth in the group, and manager Quique Sánchez Flores was dismissed following a poor run of form. He picked up an injury in December 2007 that ruled him out for almost three months, and he made his return to the side against Sevilla FC on 15 March 2008; he also came off the bench to score the third and final goal in Valencia's 3–1 victory over Getafe CF in the final of the Copa del Rey the following month.
Morientes missed out on a further few league games after he was hospitalised in April with abdominal pains and fever. He was released from hospital in time for the final two matches of the season, but played no part in either.
Having begun the following campaign as an unused substitute in Valencia's first league game, and only coming on from the bench in the second, Morientes was handed his first start in a UEFA Cup match against C.S. Marítimo, and he scored the only goal in Portugal through a solo effort at the 12-minute mark. His increasing age and the form of Villa and Juan Mata, however, led to only a handful of appearances in the league; as they were ousted in the round of 32, he still finished as their top scorer in European competition at three goals in seven matches.
Marseille
On 27 July 2009, Morientes agreed to a deal at France's Olympique de Marseille on a free transfer for one year, reuniting with former Monaco boss Didier Deschamps. During his only season he was the fourth of five strikers in the squad, his sole Ligue 1 goal coming on 26 September in what his first start, opening a 3–2 loss at Valenciennes FC.Morientes was released on 1 July 2010, by mutual consent. On 31 August, the 34-year-old announced his retirement from football.