UEFA honours
UEFA European Championship: winner 2012

• Began his career with Rayo Vallecano de Madrid before spending two seasons with Real Madrid Castilla, Real Madrid CF's reserve side.

• Unable to graduate to the first team despite 18 league goals in 2006/07, he moved to top-flight newcomers UD Almería and became their top scorer with 12 goals, leading them to eighth place in the Liga; hit 19 goals in 2008/09, 11 of them scored with former Madrid great Hugo Sánchez at the helm as Almería finished 11th.

• Madrid exercised an option to bring him back to the Santiago Bernabéu in summer 2009 but a raft of new signings led to his transfer to Sevilla FC, where he signed a five-year contract and set about the difficult task of breaking up the established strike partnership of Luis Fabiano and Frédéric Kanouté.

• Eleven league goals in his debut season in Seville were followed by 20 in 2010/11, a total which placed him joint third in the Pichichi standings behind Lionel Messi (31) and Cristiano Ronaldo (40), and 13 in 2011/12.

• On target twice on his first start for Spain, a 5-2 FIFA World Cup qualifying triumph over Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 2009, his last goals before scoring against the United States and Liechtenstein in 2011; earned one start at UEFA EURO 2012 in the semi-final against Portugal as Spain went on to lift the trophy.