Diego Tristan: talented Spanish striker Deportivo

From time to time in the leading European football championships there are clubs that are seriously inferior in their financial capabilities to leading teams. However, the competent work of the coach and the successful selection of unknown, but talented football players are able to create a battle-worthy team that competes on equal terms with the world football grandees. Diego Tristan, whose biography arouses interest, at one time played for such a team. The best years of the Spaniard are connected with the "Deportivo" from La Coruña, which fought on an equal footing with the "Real" and "Barcelona" in Spain, awe in the Champions League.

Carier start

Diego Tristan is a footballer born in a small town near Seville in 1976. Like all Andalusian boys, he dreamed of playing in one of the two big Seville clubs. To realize his goal, he entered the football academy of Betis.

The striker did not immediately reveal his potential. For quite a long time, before the age of 22, he played for the doubling squad of Betis, which languished in Spain's third most powerful league.

Tristan Diego did not stand out for a crazy performance, but regularly scored at least ten goals per season. In the end, the scouts of "Mallorca" drew attention to a stable striker, who has excellent physical data and is excellent at playing on the second floor.

The star of "Mallorca"

So Diego Tristan went to the promotion and jumped a step up, starting to play for a double, "Mallorca", then playing in Segunda - the second most powerful division of Spain.

Having changed the situation, the Andalusian opened up in a new way, began to play more actively, aggressively attack and already in the first season sent 15 goals to the opponents' goal.

Thanks to an excellent game for the doubling line-up, already in the next season he began to play for the main team of "Mallorca" on a permanent basis. In Premiere, Spain's strongest league, Diego Tristan was not lost and continued to progress. Despite the tighter struggle and a serious level of defense players, the forward continued to do his job and scored 18 goals in the first season for a new club.

Unsuccessful transition to the "Real"

At the beginning of the two thousandth "Real" was experiencing problems with the second striker, Fernando Morientes, playing in a pair with Raul, according to the leadership, he did not meet the tasks of the team. The confident game of Diego Tristan, who stably shot the gate of opponents, liked the president of the Madrid club Lorenzo Sanz, and the striker was one step away from the transition to the Spanish superclub. However, the president was dismissed, and the deal fell through.

In fact, for Diego Tristan, everything went well. So he got the opportunity to play in "Deportivo", where he spent his best years and became one of the best forwards of Europe of the beginning of the decade.

"Deportivo" was never ranked among the grandees of Spanish football, but in those years, La Coruña had a wonderful team, which included Roy Mackay, Valeron, Jalminya. Unexpectedly for all in the season 1999/2000, the modest club became the champion of the country.

Golden years in La Coruña

Not lost in the "Deportivo" and Diego Tristan, whose photo not so long ago was known only to friends and family. Despite the competition with Roy Macay for the place in the starting lineup, he did not miss his chances and managed to score 23 goals in all tournaments in the first season.

The following year, he took a strong place on the field and became the club's main striker. Despite the impressive size, Diego Tristan possessed excellent technique, was coordinated, was not afraid to go into the stroke. He worked excellently without the ball, he chose a good position and was always in the penalty area where he needed to score a goal.

In the 2001/2002 season he scored 32 goals in all tournaments, became the top scorer of the Spanish Premier and deserved a call to the national team.

Decrease in results

Attackers are always the main targets of the defenders' hunt and are often traumatized. Sometimes a trauma can be a serious obstacle to the future career of the striker. Did not escape troubles and Diego Tristan. In one of the matches for the national team, he was injured, missed a lot of time, and this was taken advantage of by his direct competitor for a place in the "Deportivo" Roy Mackay.

The Dutchman played well in his absence, and Diego Tristan became more time to spend on the bench and after recovering from the consequences of injury.

Soon, Roy MacKay left Deportivo, moving to Bavaria, but the Andalusian was never able to return to the previous level. His performance fell. Maybe the age was beginning to tell. After all, Tristan's strength was the game ahead of the opponent, which required sharpness, speed, which the forward has already begun to lose.

Nevertheless, Diego played at the best for the "Deportivo" season of the Champions League. The team from La Coruña in 2003/2004 was then shining in the European arena. At one stage of the playoffs was defeated the current holder of the European Champions Cup Italian "Milan". Only in the semifinals in a bitter struggle, "Deportivo" and Diego Tristan lost to the future winner of the tournament - "Porto".

Wanderings in Europe

Together with Diego Tristan, the crisis was overtaken by a club from La Coruña. The team began to crumble, the leaders left, and Deportivo became the most ordinary middle-aged Premier. Tristan returned to the "Mallorca", but completely lost his sniper qualities, not having scored once in a season.

Having lost the confidence of the coach, the forward decided to try his luck in the Italian Serie A and accepted the invitation of "Livorno", which was looking for a replacement for a star that had left the attack. Tristan's affairs did not improve, he scored only twenty-one games in twenty matches.

After the season in Italy, he went to London, where as part of West Ham once again tried to reanimate his career. He did not become a player of the base, usually came out to strengthen the game from the bench.

After spending two pale seasons in Italy and England, the striker returned to Spain, where he completed his career in Cadiz, playing in Segunda.

Despite a short period of his fame, Diego Tristan forever remembered his excellent game, beautiful goals and remained in memory of one of the best attackers of the two thousand years.