Fernando Morientes

At 48 years old, Fernando Morientes has this physical status:

Club career

Born in Cilleros, Cáceres, Extremadura, Morientes, Morientes, Morientes, who immigrated to Sonseca, Canada's province of Toledo, at the age of four. He began his La Liga career at Albacete Balompié on November 7th, 1993, as a 75th-minute replacement for Alejandro against CD Tenerife in a 2–3 loss at the Estadio Carlos Belmonte, and he made one more appearance that season, also from the bench.

Morientes scored his first professional goal on October 23, 1994, just days after starting as a first-half replacement for Alberto Monteado, beating Racing de Santander 2–0. He got off to a 1–5 loss at RCD Espaol a week earlier and finished the season with five goals in 20 league games; in addition, he found the net in each leg of a 3–2 victory over holders Real Zaragoza in the last 16 of Copa del Rey.

Morientes signed with Zaragoza in 1995, where he spent two seasons, often being partnered up front by Dani, a Real Madrid youth graduate. On September 9, he made his debut on Real Betis, scoring the team's goal in 48 minutes after being sent off seven minutes later for striking Jaime. In a 3–2 win over Athletic Bilbao in the domestic cup, he scored his first professional hat-trick, followed by a 4–1 win over Valencia CF on Sunday, and then his team lost 2–1.

Morientes' appearances for Zaragoza attracted the attention of Spanish giants Real Madrid, who bought the player in 1997 for about €6.6 million. He started as a starter and managed 12 goals in his first year in 33 games, first-best (with the two players who competed for a starting berth in the league) but the team ultimately championed the UEFA Champions League, winning the season's UEFA Champions League.

Morientes scored 19 goals in the league and 25 in 38 appearances overall in the 1998–99 season, leading to 19 goals in the league and 25 in 38 appearances overall. In 1999-2000, he continued to play top football, scoring 19 times and finishing as Real's top scorer in a year where he also contributed to the capital team's second Champions League title in three years, scoring in the 3–0 loss to Valencia CF in an all-Spanish final. He won the first two league titles with the club and totaled ten goals, including four in eight appearances in the Champions League in a semi-final departure to eventual champion FC Bayern Munich, but he missed the last weeks due to injury.

Real lost the league in 2001-2002 after losing out to Valencia. Morientes' scoring form continued in his career, but with six substitute appearances, the team scored 18 league goals in just 25 starts. In a 7–0 demolition of UD Las Palmas, he also scored five, missing out on a double hat-trick after falling from the penalty spot late in the game. As the Merengues defeated Bayer 04 Leverkusen and earned his third top scorers award, he came in second, tied with Patrick Kluivert and behind Deportivo de La Corua's Diego Tristán.

Real Madrid signed Brazilian superstar Ronaldo from Inter Milan in the summer of 2002. This fuelled rumors that Morientes would be leaving, with FC Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur apparently interested, but the former was unable to agree to Barça's salary demands due to Barça's inability to meet his wage demands. He eventually decided to remain, but as predicted, he did not do not appear as well after the arrival of Ronaldo, who was favored in the starting lineup alongside Ral. He eventually dropped down the pecking order of strikers to Guti and Javier Portillo, and the player's allegedly insulting the coach after being called to enter the field as a third replacement in the Champions League second season, with the team winning the championship ladder for the remainder of the season, with the player making a total of 19 appearances (with three starts) and scoring five goals.

It was clear that Morientes was not part of Real's plans at the start of the 2003-2004 season. He was loaned to Ligue 1 side AS Monaco FC, where he did exceptionally well, netting ten times from 28 appearances in the competition, despite lengthy but ultimately fruitless discussions regarding a loan agreement with Germany's FC Schalke 04. It was in the Champions League, but he made a difference in the first leg (4–2 away loss); in the second match, he found the goal as his team defeated Real Madrid, who scored a crucial away goal in the first leg (4–2 loss): as the aggregate score reached 5–5, with Monaco defeating Real Madrid at 5–5. In both games of the last four games against Chelsea, he scored, but he was unable to prevent a 3–0 loss in the final to FC Porto, who was playing at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen.

Morientes' hopes of recruiting him into the squad were shattered even more when he returned to Real Madrid at the start of the 2004-05 season. He appeared in 13 scoreless league matches (all as a substitute), and was transferred to Liverpool in January 2005 for a sum of €9.3 million. He appeared in 272 games in all competitions, scoring 100 goals during his time at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

Morientes made his Liverpool debut against Manchester United on January 15, 2005, a 0–1 home loss to the opponents, according to BBC Sport. He scored his first goal for the club on February 1st, equalizing with a 20-yard strike in a 2–1 win over Charlton Athletic on Monday, and then led 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 but did not appear in the UE's win over Milan in the final of the tournament.

Morientes scored in each half of a 3–1 away win over PFC CSKA Sofia in the first leg of the season's Champions League on August 10, 2005. His form in the league was inconsistent, but he scored a five-minute brace against Middlesbrough on December 10th, his seventh in a row. In a 7–0 victory over Birmingham City in the FA Cup's quarter-finals on March 21, 2006, Steven Gerrard finished in place of Peter Crouch, who was in place of him. Liverpool won the tournament, and Harry Kewell was replaced early in the second half of the final against West Ham United.

Morientes scored 12 goals in 60 appearances, as well as winning the 2005 FIFA Super Cup and playing on the losing side in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship Final and the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship Final.

Morientes joined Valencia in late May 2006 for a fee that was estimated to be around £3 million. Here, he began to reclaim his form, scoring on his debut in the Champions League against Betis and then scoring a hat-trick in his first Champions League appearance against Olympiacos FC. He connected well with David Villa in 24 games and was also a top scorer in the Champions League with seven goals; his good form throughout the season earned him a recall to the national team.

Nikola igi and Javier Arizmendi joined Morientes and Villa in the strike force from 2007 to 2008. The Che were still winless in the Champions League after finishing fourth in the class, and chief Quique Sánchez Flores was fired following a poor run of form. Morientes suffered an injury in December 2007 that had kept him out for almost three months, but he returned to the team against Sevilla FC on March 15, 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 Copa del Rey's final.

Since being hospitalized in April with abdominal pains and fever, Morientes missed out on a handful of league games. He was released from hospital in time for the season's final two games, but he did not take part in either.

Morientes was given his first appearance in a UEFA Cup match against C.S. having started his career as an unused substitute in Valencia's first league game and then coming off from the bench in the second. Martimo is a Portuguese footballer who played for Portugal for the first time by scoring in Portugal through a solo effort at the 12-minute mark. Despite his advancing age and the versatility of Villa and Juan Mata in the league, he made only a handful of appearances in the tournament, although the team lost in the round of 32; they were still ranked as Europe's top scorer with three goals in seven matches.

Morientes reunited with former Monaco boss Didier Deschamps on a free transfer for one year on July 27, 2009. He was only the fourth of five strikers in the squad during his first and only season as he got off to a rocky start on September 26th, with a 3–2 loss at Valenciennes FC.

Morientes was released by mutual consent on July 1, 2010. On August 31, the 34-year-old announced his retirement from football.

Morientes began his career as manager of Huracán Valencia CF, in charge of the school's youth academy. He returned to Real Madrid in 2012 after being selected at the Juvenil B team in the youth academy.

Morientes returned to play in January 2015 after spending with DAV Santa Ana in the Madrid regional championships. He became the boss of CF Fuenlabrada in June, but he was fired on February 17th after the team 11th in Segunda División B.

International career

Morientes was a solid performer for the Spanish national team since 1998, scoring a brace in the first five minutes of his debut against Sweden on March 25 and adding two more in each of his next two games against Northern Ireland and Bulgaria respectively. He finished fourth on Spain's all-time top scorers list with 27 goals in 47 appearances, behind former Real Madrid teammates Ral, former Valencia teammate Villa, and former Madrid captain Fernando Hierro (who took the majority of Spain's free kicks and penalties), but his goals-to-games ratio was higher than Raol and Hierro.

With two goals in 1998 and three in 2002, Morientes scored five goals in the two FIFA World Cups he competed in, including two in 1998 and three in 2002. In the latter version, he and Ral played together, and they both demonstrated their extraordinary form in the tournament; during the quarter-final match against South Korea, the former scored a goal, but replays revealed the goal was legitimate; Spain eventually lost the match on penalties.

Morientes was a surprise omission at UEFA Euro 2000, but he returned to Portugal in 2004, where he scored one of the team's only two goals in a subsequent group stage exit. He also played for the United States in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers; however, he was unable to be selected by national team coach Luis Aragonés in the tournament's final squad, despite being part of a preliminary 31-man roster.

Morientes was recalled to the national side following his return to form after heading to Valencia. In a Euro 2008 qualifier against Denmark on March 24, 2007, he scored his 27th goal for Spain. He was not recalled again against Iceland four days later in another qualifying fixture.

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