Fernando Llorente

The stars are bright, Fernando!

It finished 5-4 but it could have finished 10-9! One of the most exciting matches of the Premier League season took place last weekend and it didn't involve any of the teams at the top of the table. Swansea City beat Crystal Palace 5-4 in a match that had more twists and turns than a Hollywood blockbuster. Palace opened the scoring in the first-half but Swansea equalised before half-time to make it 1-1. Nobody knew that in the second half there would be seven goals in just 24 minutes! Swansea's Leroy Fer scored twice (66th & 68th minutes) to make the score 3-1 to the home team, then, it was Palace's turn to score three goals without reply. When Christian Benteke scored with just five minutes left, it looked like Palace had turned the game on its head. But Swansea turned the game upside down once again. In injury time, the Swansea City substitute, Fernando Llorente, not only scored the equaliser to make it 4-4 but got the winner, too. Swansea's 5-4 win took them off the bottom of the table and left Palace without a win in seven matches.

I see the win as a turning point in so many ways. Sometimes you feel like you need something crazy and maybe this game can be that moment. Bob Bradley, Swansea manager.

What other amazing games have been played in the Premier League?

Swansea's amazing 5-4 win against Crystal Palace was probably the most exciting match in the Premier League this season. The lead changed three times, there were seven second-half goals and an injury-time winner. However, in recent seasons, there have been many exciting matches, let's take a look at a few of them. Which matches do you remember? Which was the best? 

• Norwich City 4-5 Liverpool, January 2016 - Another 5-4 thriller. Norwich equalised injury time but Liverpool scored the winner with the last kick of the match. In the celebrations on the touchline, Liverpool's manager, Jurgen Klopp, lost his glasses!
• Tottenham 6-4 Reading, December 2007 - Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov scored a hat-trick and Reading took the lead three times but Spurs came back to win.
• Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal, April 2009 - The match is best remembered for Arsenal's Russian forward, Andrei Arshavin scoring four goals but there was also a 90th-minute equaliser for Liverpool.
• Manchester Utd 4-3 Manchester City, September 2009 - Manchester Utd took the lead three times but each time City equalised. City's third equaliser arrived in the 90th minute but there was still time for Michael Owen to score the winner for Utd!
• Manchester City 3-2 QPR, May 2012 - City's first Premier League title is well-known but it was a fantastic match. City needed to win to win the title. Edin Dzeko equalised for City in the 92nd minute and Sergio Aguero scored in the 95th to give City the title!

What do we know about Fernando Llorente?

Fernando Llorente was born in Pamplona in Spain, in February 1985. He made his name with Spanish side, Athletic Bilbao. He played 333 times for the Basque club and scored 118 goals. While with Bilbao he also made his debut for the Spanish national team. In 2010, he was part of the Spanish squad that won the World Cup in South Africa and in 2012 he was part of the squad that won the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. In 2013, Llorente moved to Italy to play for the Italian Champions, Juventus. In Turin (Juve's home city), Llorente won the Italian title three times and also helped the team reach the final of the Champions League where they were beaten by Barcelona. In 2013, Llorente returned to Spain to play for Sevilla. He only played 36 times for Sevilla but he did help them win the Europa League last season when they beat Liverpool 3-1 in the Final. In the summer of 2016, Llorente became one of Swansea City's biggest-ever signings when he joined the Welsh club.

Do you know any nicknames of Premier League players?

Fernando Llorente is known as 'The Lion King', this is his nickname. He is not named after the lion in the film of the same name but because the club where he made his name, Athletic Bilbao, are known as 'The Lions'. Many Premier League players have nicknames, Sergio Aguero is sometimes called 'Kun' or Sergio 'Kun' Aguero. His nickname comes from a Japanese cartoon and it was the name his grandad gave to him because that was the only word he said when he was little!  There have been others. Ex-Manchester Utd striker, Ole Gunnar Solskjær was called the baby-faced assassin because he looked so young and scored lots of goals, ex-Arsenal striker, Dennis Bergkamp was called the non-flying Dutchman because he was scared of flying (the flying Dutchman is a famous ghost ship), and Chelsea's Cesar Azpiliceuta is called 'Dave' because his surname is too difficult to say for many! 

There was a lot of football vocabulary in this article. Try the quiz below and test your understanding of football vocabulary. You can find all the answers in bold in the text above.

What do you think?

Fernando Llorente was the hero for Swansea in their 5-4 win against Palace. Are you surprised that Swansea City have a World Cup winner in their team?

The match finished 5-4. Do you think this was the most exciting match of the season? What's the most exciting match you can remember?

Fernando Llorente's nickname is 'The Lion King'. Do you know any other nicknames?

Take another look at the football English in the article (the words in bold). Were any of these words new for you? Can you try to use some of them in the comments section below?