MADRID, 31 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Uruguayan central defender Diego Godín, who played among others at Villarreal and Atlético de Madrid, where he won a League and Europa Leagues, put an end to his sports career this Sunday with his last game with Argentine Velez Sarsfield.
Godín, 37, had already announced a few days ago that the clash against Huracán, the last of the season in Argentina’s top flight, would be the last he played as a professional. “20 years of career, since I was 5 years old playing ball and giving myself up, they are not tears of sadness, they are of happiness and peace of mind for having given myself to the fullest, they are relief,” Godín told the ‘ESPN’ microphone after the match. game.
“Where I was was based on sacrifice and effort, based on playing with a lot of passion and giving myself body and soul to my teammates and the club. It is what I take with me, my legacy of having been a person of good inside and out from the field”, added the defender, who has played a total of 627 games at club level.
The center-back began his career in his country and landed in Spanish football in the summer of 2007 at Villarreal, where he came from Nacional. In the Castellón team he was a fixture and his good work led to his signing by Atlético de Madrid in 2010, although it was not until the arrival of Diego Pablo Simeone that he began to show his qualities in the mattress team.
Thus, Godín became, together with the Brazilian Joao Miranda, one of the best center-back pairs of the Madrid team, with whom he played almost 400 games (389) and in which he was key in winning the league title in the 2013-2014 season with his goal at the Camp Nou that made it 1-1 and gave Atlético the point they needed.
In addition, he won two Europa Leagues (2012 and 2018), three European Super Cups (2010, 2012 and 2018), one Copa del Rey (2013) and one Spanish Super Cup (2014), while playing in two Champions League finals. (2014 and 2016), both lost to Real Madrid.
Following his release from Atlético Madrid, he moved through the Italian Serie A to play for Inter Milan and Cagliari, and then returned to South America, spending his final years with Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro and Argentine Velez Sarsfield.
Internationally, he wore the Uruguayan jersey 161 times, the team with which he won the Copa América in 2011 and with which he played in the semifinals of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, one of his four World Cups (2014, 2018 and 2022). ).