Fernando Llorente

Athletic Bilbao

Llorente spent several seasons in the various junior levels of the club, playing alongside Fernando Amorebieta and moving to their farm team Basconia in Tercera División in 2003. He gradually improved, leading to promotion to Bilbao Athletic – Athletic's reserves – in Segunda División B. After scoring four goals for the B's in the first half of the season, Llorente was rewarded with a contract extension until June 2008. On 16 January 2005, he made his first-team and La Liga debut in a 1–1 home draw against Espanyol. Three days later, in a Copa del Rey match against Lanzarote, he scored a hat-trick in a 6–0 victory. He went on to feature in all but five of the nineteen remaining league games, scoring three goals, and also played in four domestic cup matches and the UEFA Cup round of 32 tie against Austria Wien. Before 2005–06, Llorente exchanged his squad number of 32 for the number 9 jersey. He scored on the opening day, a Basque derby 3–0 win over Real Sociedad but, throughout the campaign, found goals hard to come by. This could be partly attributed to a series of injuries including a knee strain, gastroenteritis and a muscle injury. He ended the season with just four goals, two in the league and as many in the Cup, both against Hospitalet. On 13 July 2006, Llorente signed a new contract until June 2011, which included a buy-out clause of between €30 and 50 million. He started the season as arguably the club's fourth-choice striker, behind Aritz…

Llorente represented Spain at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, his five goals winning him the silver boot as the competition's second highest scorer. He was also capped at under-17 and under-21 levels. On 14 November 2008, senior national team manager Vicente del Bosque called Llorente up for a friendly against Chile; he was brought on as a substitute in the 72nd minute of the 3–0 win. He scored his first goal in the 64th minute of a 2–0 friendly win over England on 11 February 2009, after coming off the bench. After scoring 14 goals for Athletic in 2008–09, he was named by del Bosque in his 23-man squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. He was used as a substitute against hosts South Africa, and closed a 2–0 victory. Llorente was not selected during the 2009–10 season, as del Bosque favoured Álvaro Negredo. He was, however, selected for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa as third-choice striker, where he played in one match for the eventual champions, the last thirty minutes of the 1–0 round of 16 defeat of Portugal. On 8 October 2010, benefiting from an injury to Fernando Torres, Llorente started in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Lithuania in Salamanca, scoring with two headers in a 3–1 win. Four days later, as a substitute, he scored the winner against Scotland in a 3–2 victory at Hampden Park. He was selected for the final stages in Poland and Ukraine, and was an unused squad member as Spain won another tournament. Llorente was one of seven players dropped…

A tall, large, and physically powerful player, Llorente's main traits were his heading ability and strength in the air, which enabled him to function effectively as a target-man in the centre of his team's attacking line. He was also known for his offensive movement, positional sense, and goalscoring ability inside the penalty area. Additionally, he was also gifted with good technical skills and link-up play, which allowed him to play well with his back to goal and hold up the ball for his teammates in order to create space and scoring opportunities.

Club

International

Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Llorente goal.