forlán's debut for villarreal was on 30 august 2004, starting away to rivals valencia and scoring his club's goal in the 77th minute of a 2–1 defeat. his next goal came in a home 2–0 win over real zaragoza on 3 october, and was followed with an equaliser in a 1–1 draw at mallorca and the final goal of a 4–0 win at home to numancia. between 12 december 2004 and 16 january 2005, forlán scored seven goals in five primera división matches, including a brace in a 3–0 home victory over barcelona on 9 january. on 22 may 2005, he scored his first hat-trick for a european club with all of villarreal's goals in a 3–3 away draw against eventual league champions barcelona. a week later he scored two in a 4–1 victory over local rivals levante as villarreal ended the season in third, qualifying for the champions league for the first time in the club's history. forlán won the 2004–05 pichichi trophy for most goals in la liga, with 25. he also shared the 2005 european golden boot with arsenal striker thierry henry.