Diego Roberto Godin Leal is a famous Uruguayan footballer. Plays as a central defender. He plays for the Italian football club Internazionale, as well as for the national team of Uruguay.
Biography
The future footballer was born in February 1986 on the sixteenth in the small Uruguayan town of Rosario. The boy from an early age had a great love for football. He went in for sports and dreamed someday to become a real footballer. The Diego family was not rich, and this was one of the main obstacles to the dream. Nevertheless, the family found the means to send little Diego to the Estudiantes de Rosario football academy. For this, the athlete is still grateful to his mother and maintains the most tender relationship with his parents.
Professional career
Godin established himself very well in his first club and at the age of sixteen he moved to the academy of the more solid Defensor Sporting club. In the new team, the guy spent only a year. In 2003, he was taken to the Cerro Academy, one of the country's most titled and popular clubs.
In the same year, Godin concluded the first professional agreement with the club. In “Cerro, ” the still inexperienced Diego actually grew up into a true base player. For three seasons in the team, he moved from rotation to the starting lineup and played more than sixty matches, in which he scored six goals.
Such high-quality and rapid growth did not go unnoticed by the country's top clubs, and in 2006, a good offer was made according to Godin. In 2006, Nacional became Diego's new club. For the team from Montevideo, the promising defender played only one year. Then he decided that it was time to conquer European football. The player's choice fell on Spain, a fairly popular championship, but not as severe and complicated as in England.
The grandees of Spanish football Real Madrid and Barcelona paid no attention to the young player, and the guy had no choice but to accept any offer from the Spanish championship. In the summer of 2007, Godin received an offer from Villarreal and happily responded to it. Already in August, he first entered the Spanish lawns as part of Villarreal. In October, against a strong middle peasant in the major league, “Osasuna”, Godin scored an opponent goal, but despite his spectacular goal, “Villarreal” was still defeated with a score of 2-3.
The first season in the team was extremely successful for Diego, in a short time he managed to demonstrate his skills to the club management and take a place in the starting lineup. In total, he spent twenty-four matches for the debut season. In addition, “Villarreal” took the highest possible place in its history according to the results of the championship. The second line for a rather mediocre team was a huge achievement.
The next season, Diego began as a full-time player in the starting lineup, his brilliant defense game became actually an important component of the success of the previous season. Among other things, “Villarreal” was also the second in terms of statistics on goals conceded.
In total, Godin spent three years in the camp of the "yellow submarines", for which 116 times appeared on the field and even marked with four goals scored.
In the summer of 2010, a serious fight began for Diego Godin, several famous clubs were going to take possession of a talented defender. But the most successful of all was Atletico Madrid. In August of that year, an agreement was reached for three years.
The defender made his debut as part of the UEFA Super Cup against the Italian club Internazionale. The game ended with a convincing victory for Atlético. The UEFA Super Cup was the second trophy in the piggy bank of the Uruguayan defender. In total, Godin played thirty games this season, in which he scored four goals.
In the season of 12-13 years, Godin replenished the trophy piggy bank with two significant trophies at once, he won the Spanish Cup as part of Atletico, as well as the second UEFA Super Cup in his career. In 2013, at the end of the season, Godin extended his contract with the Madrid club for another five years. In total, the Uruguayan spent nine fruitful years in the “mattress”, during which he appeared on the field 389 times and scored twenty-seven goals, which is very good for the central defender.
In May 2019, on the eve of the expiration of the next contract with Atlético, the Uruguayan announced that he was planning to leave the club soon. Before the start of the 19-20 season, he signed an agreement with the Italian club Internazionale, in which he plays today.
Uruguayan career
Godin first appeared in national colors for the team under 20 in 2005 at the continental championship. Even then, he was a key figure in the defense of the team and played all nine meetings in the tournament. In the same year, the leadership of the main national team noticed the talented player, and already in October 2005 he made his debut for the Uruguayan adult team in a friendly meeting with the Mexican team.
In 2010, he was called up to the national team for the World Cup, which was held in South Africa. His team reached the stage of the semifinals, and Godin himself played five matches. In 2011, Diego added the first international trophy, the Uruguayan national team won the American Championship. Today it is the only award that Godin received as part of the national team.
Diego also took part in the matches of the World Cup 2014 and 2018. The latter was announced a participant in the symbolic tournament team.
