Bruno Fornaroli Mezza (; born 7 September 1987) is a professional soccer player who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder, most recently for Australian club Avondale FC. Born in Uruguay, he has played for the Australia national team.
Club career Nacional Fornaroli was born in Salto, in northwestern Uruguay to an Italian-Uruguayan family. He started playing football at the age of 3, and by the age of 12, he travelled to Montevideo by bus after being offered a trial by Nacional, hoping to become a professional footballer. On the same bus, he befriended Luis Suárez, who was visiting his parents in Salto and would later become his teammate in the youth teams of Nacional.
During his time in the youth teams of Nacional, Fornaroli was given the nickname "El Tuna" (The Prickly Pear) due to his spiky hairstyle. On 6 July 2006, he made his senior debut, at the age of 18, in a 3–0 win against Rentistas at the Estadio Gran Parque Central. Fornaroli scored two goals, the first in his professional career, in a 2–1 Uruguayan Clásico win against Peñarol in the opening round of the 2007–08 Primera División. After the match, Fornaroli dedicated the victory to his mother, who had just turned 40 at the time. He ended his debut season, scoring 17 goals in 37 appearances for the club in the Primera División and Copa Libertadores.
Sampdoria On 22 July 2008, Fornaroli signed a three-year contract with Sampdoria, for a transfer fee of €3 million and a salary of €300,000. Additionally, a sale clause was included, demanding that 50% of Fornaroli's future transfer fee will be allocated to Nacional. He received the number 9 after having requested and replaced Vincenzo Montella who returned to Roma from his expired loan deal with Sampdoria. Additionally, due to his Italian ancestry, Fornaroli obtained citizenship, which resulted in him being registered as a non-EU player for the club.
He made his Serie A debut on 14 September 2008 in a 2–0 defeat against Lazio at the Olimpico, coming on for Paolo Sammarco in the 75th minute. Five days later, he scored on his Europa League debut, after coming off the bench, and contributing to a 5–0 home win against Kaunas. He would score again in the returning away fixture against Kaunas, helping his side win the match 2–1 after being down a goal in the first half. On 13 November, Fornaroli scored the winning goal, from a penalty, in a 2–1 win against Empoli in the Coppa Italia. During the league campaign, Fornaroli struggled to find playing time within the squad despite chants from the fans who wanted to see him play when he was on the bench during games. By the end of January 2009, he amassed a total of 69 minutes played in 5 appearances in the Serie A.
Loan to San Lorenzo On 10 February 2009, Fornaroli was confirmed to have been sent on loan to the Argentine club San Lorenzo in the First Division, with an option to extend for a fee of €100,000. Despite Argentine media speculating his first-team debut against Estudiantes, he was instead put to train with the reserve team for the club. Fornaroli scored on his reserve debut on 25 February leading his side to win 3–2 against Estudiantes reserves and impressed coach Miguel Ángel Russo who watched from the stands. His impressive performances for the reserves during matches and training led to him earning his first-team debut on 5 March, in the Copa Libertadores, against Libertad, coming off the bench in the 76th minute. Four days later, he started on his league debut in a 3–1 away loss against Rosario Central. On 18 May, Fornaroli scored two goals off the bench, his first for the club, in a 3–0 win against Gimnasia Jujuy. Fornaroli departed San Lorenzo following the end of his loan on 30 June, in total, making 15 appearances and 2 goals for the club. Sampdoria offered Fornaroli to San Lorenzo for a second season on loan but was rejected due to his high salary demands and his ability within the squad which would only make him a substitute player.
Loan to Huelva On 30 August 2009, Fornaroli would be sent out on loan to Recreativo Huelva in the Spanish Second Division. In November, after a training session, Fornaroli would be seen in a heated argument with coach Javi López due to the frustration of his playing time. The incident sparked the attention of the local media and witnesses who were around the ground. On 7 January 2010, Fornaroli scored a goal in the quarter-finals first leg of the Copa del Rey, where his side won 3–0, against Atlético Madrid at the Estadio Nuevo Colombino. However, Huelva would be knocked out of the competition in the second leg after losing 5–1 (5–4 on aggregate) in the second leg. Fornaroli continued to struggle to find playing time under new coach Raül Agné, having only scored 2 goals out of 15 appearances in the league by March, leading him to be dropped from the squad for the rest of the season.
Loan to Nacional On 7 November 2010, Fornaroli made his return to Sampdoria, playing 3 minutes against Catania – the first time he had played for Sampdoria in 664 days. He was sent out on loan for a third time, returning to his former club Nacional on 26 January 2011. He made his homecoming debut against Montevideo Wanderers, on 5 February, at the Estadio Gran Parque Central. On 30 March, Fornaroli scored his first goal of the season, in the 23rd minute of the match, to bring the score to 1–1. He added his second the same match, a brace from a penalty, in the 85th to end the match in a 5–2 win against El Tanque Sisley. On 10 April, Fornaroli added his third and fourth goal in a 3–0 win against local club Tacuarembó. He made his tenth Clásico appearance for Nacional against Peñarol on 8 May 2011. Fornaroli would earn his first league medal after Nacional won the league in the Closing Stage of the competition.
2011–12: Return to Sampdoria Following the end of his loan, Fornaroli returned to Sampdoria on 27 July 2011. He made his first appearance, coming off the bench for Cristian Bertani in the 89th minute, against Livorno on 30 August. He made his first start, on 1 November, against Crotone, being applauded from the attending fans as his name was called before the start of the match. At the end of the 2011–12 season, he made 11 league appearances without scoring a goal for Sampdoria.
Panathinaikos On 18 July 2012, Sampdoria announced that Fornaroli had been sold to the Uruguayan club Boston River. However, three days later, Fornaroli signed a three-year contract with Greek side Panathinaikos for an undisclosed fee, after talks with manager Jesualdo Ferreira who requested to have him in his team. On 31 July, he made his club debut, coming off the bench in the 85th minute, in a 2–0 away win against Motherwell of the Champions League third qualifying round first leg. He made his league debut on 25 August, coming off the bench again, against Levadiakos at Levadia Municipal Stadium. After three months of having not scored a goal since joining the club, Fornaroli ended his goal drought on 29 November, scoring two goals in a cup match, in a 4–0 win against Proodeftiki. On 2 September 2013, Panathinaikos announced the termination of Fornaroli's contract following his poor performances in the attack, ending his season with 0 goals in 17 league appearances for the club. Fornaroli moved back to Uruguay to train with Nacional, after receiving permission to do so, to maintain his fitness. However, he was not offered an official contract from the club.
Danubio On 9 January 2014, Fornaroli signed a contract with Danubio alongside Jorge Zambrana who joined the same day. A month since signing, Fornaroli scored his first goal for the club, securing a 3–2 win against Juventud at the Estadio Parque Artigas Las Piedras. He scored his second goal on 18 May, helping his side come back to draw 3–3 against Sud América after being down 3–0 in the first half. On 8 June, Fornaroli was named in the starting lineup in the Primera División final against Montevideo Wanderers. He was taken off in the 61st minute of the match before his side won 3–2 on penalties after the score drew 2–2 on aggregate (1–1 in both legs) at the end of extra time. This led to Fornaroli earning his second league title in Uruguay and Danubio's first title in 82 years, with the club crediting his contributions to his leadership role in the squad.
On 20 June, Fornaroli would move to Florianópolis from Montevideo to sign a contract with Figueirense after passing his medical. Three days later, on 23 June, it was confirmed that Fornaroli had completed a loan move to Figueirense following the acceptance of his work visa. Throughout the league season, Fornaroli faced difficulty in terms of getting game time, as he was the only player among the registered 38 players who did not make an appearance for the club. He returned to Uruguay without registering a competitive appearance for Figueirense in January 2015.
Fornaroli began his 2014–2015 campaign midway through the season and found the back of the net for the first time since returning on 22 March 2015. He scored in his third appearance for the club as he helped his team secure a 2–1 win against his former club, Nacional. He departed at the end of the season, leaving with 5 goals in 25 league appearances in total for Danubio. He soon moved to England to train under Patrick Vieira at Manchester City before being linked with a move to Melbourne City.
Melbourne City 2015–16
On 10 August 2015, Fornaroli finalised a two-year deal with A-League club Melbourne City. He received the number 23 and acquired the fourth visa spot in the squad. He is also the fourth Uruguayan to have joined the A-League after Osvaldo Carro (2005–06), Mateo Corbo (2005–06) and Francisco Usúcar (2011–12).
Fornaroli made his debut on 26 August 2015 in a 5–1 home win against Wellington Phoenix in the FFA Cup, converting a penalty in the 32nd minute. In the following round, he scored two goals, netting the opening goal and a brace, in a 5–0 win against Heidelberg United at Olympic Village. On 17 October, he scored his first league goal in a 3–2 Melbourne Derby loss against Melbourne Victory in his second league appearance. Over the next month, he would go on to score 4 goals in 3 games, with 2 goals each, as Melbourne City defeated Central Coast Mariners (3–1) and Adelaide United (4–2) respectively. His start to the season received praise and much surprise to those who had doubts over the signing, as Herald Sun described, "shown glimpses of the potential that City fans have borne witness to over the past two months". He scored the only goal against Brisbane Roar on 28 December, marking his 10th goal of the season, as his side loss 3–1. He was named PFA A-League Player of the Month after scoring 4 goals during December.
On 25 January 2016, Fornaroli scored his 13th goal against Wellington, surpassing David Williams's record for most goals in a league season for Melbourne City. He earned his second Player of the Month for his performance in January, becoming the first player to have received the award on two occasions. On 7 February, Fornaroli scored the only goal as Melbourne lost 2–1 against Newcastle Jets. Despite the loss, Fornaroli's goal equalled Marc Janko's record for the fastest player to reach 15 goals in the league and overtook Aaron Mooy as Melbourne City’s second leading all-time goalscorer, all in his 18th game for the club. Fornaroli scored twice, in his third Melbourne Derby derby appearance on 13 February as City drew 2–2 with Melbourne Victory. His first goal was a rabona-style strike that received praises from media who dubbed it as a "goal of the season" contender. Additionally, he became the first Melbourne City player to net a goal in four consecutive appearances.