Radamel Falcao García Zárate

Radamel Falcao García Zárate (born 10 February 1986), commonly known simply as Falcao, is a Colombian football striker who currently plays for Atlético Madrid.

He is considered to be one of the best forwards in the world, having surpassed Jürgen Klinsmann's record of 15 goals (17) in a single UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League campaign. He also played a key role in guiding Porto to a second UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League title, as well as finishing undefeated in the 2010–11 Primeira Liga season. In July of 2011, Falcao was regarded as the fifth best player in Europe during the 2010–11 season through balloting by 53 sportswriters of the UEFA member associations.

Radamel prefers to be called by his second name. He is known for having a good burst of pace and a powerful header. Falcao is a second generation footballer: his father, Radamel García, played professionally as a defender in Colombia. Falcao is named after the 1980s Brazilian and A.S. Roma legend Falcão. He is a devout Christian and leader of the Church youth groups "Locos por Jesús" and "Campeones para Cristo."

River Plate

As a youth, Falcao began playing at Fair Play, a Colombian football school. At the age of 15, Falcao was discovered by River Plate while playing for the Colombian U-17 side and was recruited to join the Argentine side's legendary youth academy and reserve system. Before signing his first professional contract with River Plate, Falcao had begun studies in journalism at the University of Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At 19, Falcao debuted as a starter under Reinaldo Merlo, scoring two goals in his first start for River Plate. He quickly built a reputation, scoring seven goals in his first seven starts. He would score seven goals in his 11 appearances in 2005 (four as a sub under Leo Astrada). He injured ligaments in his right knee while scoring a goal in a match against San Lorenzo. Falcao exacerbated the knee injury when he tore the anterior cruciate ligaments of the same knee during a pre-season practice in January 2006. The ACL injury subsequently caused him to miss a lot of games. Recovering from the long period of inactivity that followed, Falcao struggled to regain fitness throughout 2006 and the spring of 2007, as nagging injuries continually derailed comeback attempts. The recovery period would be the most difficult of Falcao's career, as he would score only three goals in 25 appearances in aggregate over the fall and spring of 2006–07 — 10 of these appearances being late game substitutions.

FC Porto

Falcao made an impressive start to the 2010–11 season, scoring a goal in the 2010 Portuguese SuperCup 2–0 victory over Benfica. He scored his first two league goals on the second matchday of the season against Beira-Mar on 22 August 2010. On 7 November, he scored twice (one of them an impressive backheel goal) in a 5–0 victory against the defending champions Benfica, and later, on 2 December, Falcao scored his first hat-trick for Porto against Rapid Wien during a UEFA Europa League clash, becoming the top goal scorer of the competition with seventeen goals. On 7 April 2011, Falcao scored another hat-trick in the quarter-final of the Europa League against Russian side Spartak Moscow, which was won by the Portuguese team by a score of 5–1, to bring his goal tally in the tournament to 10.
In the 2010–11 season, Porto won the league title in round 25 of the league against rivals and defending champions Benfica at the Estádio da Luz. He played a key role in that match, winning his team a penalty when the match was tied at 1–1; the penalty was scored by teammate Hulk. In the match against Spartak Moscow in the Europa League, Falcao scored a hat-trick and provided an assist in a 5–1 win. In the second leg, he scored another goal and provided another assist that took Porto to the tournament's semi-final stage. He further added to his position as top scorer in the competition by scoring four goals in the semi-final first leg against Villarreal, a game which finished 5–1 in favour of Porto.
In the UEFA Europa League final, Falcao scored the only goal of the game with a header after a cross from Fredy Guarín, giving the title to Porto. He set a new goalscoring record of 17 goals in 14 games during the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, surpassing Jürgen Klinsmann's previous record of 15 goals.
In July 2011 he extended his contract with a €45 million buy-out clause.

Atlético Madrid

On 18 August 2011, Porto announced they had agreed a fee with Atlético Madrid for the transfer of Falcao. The transfer fee was €40 million, making it the most expensive in the club's history. Falcao made his Atlético debut on September 10 away to Valencia, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 defeat. His first goal came five days later, in a Europa League win against Celtic at the Vicente Calderón. He then proceeded to score his first hat-trick for Atlético in the following league game against Racing Santander. Three days later, Falcao scored another brace in the 4–0 victory over Sporting Gijón, putting himself as the topscorer of the league with 5 goals, alongside Lionel Messi and Roberto Soldado. On 3 November, Falcao netted a goal in Atlético's 4-0 triumph over Udinese, the goal meant that Falcao had scored 19 goals in his last 18 Europa League games.

International Career

Falcao has represented Colombia at the under-17, under-20 and senior levels. He was called up to the Colombia squad for the 2011 Copa América because of his impressive form at Porto. Falcao proved his worth in their third group game against Bolivia, scoring both goals in a 2–0 win that secured passage into the quarter-finals. This being the first time Falcao has ever scored more than one goal in a game at international level. He missed a penalty kick in the 2nd half of regulation when the match was 0–0 in a loss against Peru, in the extra time, two mistakes of the Colombian goalkeeper making Colombia lose 2–0, besides the elimination of the tournament.