Marcelo Salas
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| Marcelo Salas | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jose Marcelo Salas Melinao | |
| Date of birth | December 24, 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Temuco, Chile | |
| Nickname | Matador, Il Mattatore | |
| Position | "Striker" | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club |  Universidad de Chile |
|
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1983-91 1991-93 |
El Santos Universidad de Chile |
|
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| 1993-96 1996-98 1998-01 2001-03 2003-05 2005-06 |
Universidad de Chile River Plate S.S. Lazio Juventus River Plate Universidad de Chile |
64 (50) 53 (51) 79 (77) 35 (21) 32 (20) 37 (18) |
| National team | ||
| 1994-05 | Chile | 65 (35) |
|
* Professional club appearances and goals |
||
José Marcelo Salas Melinao (born December 24, 1974 in Temuco), better known as Marcelo Salas, is a football player from Chile. He, with Elías Figueroa and Iván Zamorano, have been some of Chile's most recognized football players. Nicknamed El Matador, has a deft touch with his left foot with which has led to some spectacular goals. He currently plays for Universidad de Chile.
[edit] Career
Salas debuted playing for Universidad de Chile in 1993 helping the team to win back to back titles in 1994 and 1995. In 1996, Salas went on to play with River Plate of the Argentine first division. In 1996 and 1997 he won different cups with River Plate. He also helped Chile in the World Cup qualification as the top scorer along Ivan Zamorano in the south American zone. In 1998, he participated with Chile in the World Cup making a strong performance with 4 goals in 4 matches. On the same year he was transferred to S.S. Lazio in US$18.000.000.
Salas played in Italy for five years, three with S.S. Lazio (1998-2001), winning a Scudetto, an Italian cup, a Cup Winners' Cup and a European Super Cup. In 2001 he was transferred to Juventus where he played until 2003 winning one Scudetto before coming back to River Plate. In 2004, Salas was sold to River Plate for 12 million US dollars (10 million euros).
In late July 2005, it was confirmed that he would return to his original football team, Universidad de Chile, and the never-ending love of the fans of Universidad de Chile for Salas was evident: he was given a warm reception even when he didn't play. Although the press was tough on him for being an injury-prone player (Salas played just 10 games in 2005), he carried Universidad de Chile to the cup finals. The final was decided with a shootout. After the retirement rumors of the summer of 2006, he started another campaign with Universidad de Chile and lead the team to the final, but another penalty shootout denied the title. With the Chilean national team, he has scored 35 goals (a national record) in 65 games from 1994 to 2005.
[edit] External links
- Official Website In Spanish
|
Chile squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup | |
|---|---|---|
|
1 Tapia | 2 Castañeda | 3 Fuentes | 4 Rojas | 5 Margas | 6 Reyes | 7 Parraguez | 8 Acuña | 9 Zamorano | 10 Sierra | 11 Salas | 12 Marcelo Ramírez | 13 Neira | 14 Miguel Ramírez | 15 Villarroel | 16 Aros | 17 Vega | 18 Musrri | 19 Cornejo | 20 Estay | 21 Barrera | 22 Tejas | Coach: Acosta |
||
| Preceded by: José Luis Chilavert |
South American Footballer of the Year 1997 |
Succeeded by: Martín Palermo |
