Marcelo Salas

Salas in the jersey of Juventus

José Marcelo Salas Melinao ( born December 24, 1974 in Temuco, Chile ) is a former Chilean football player.

Career

The center forward Salas, nicknamed El Matador, already as a 22 -year-old came from Chile to Argentina's traditional club River Plate Buenos Aires and grew to become one of the most prolific attackers. In 1997 he won with River Plate, the Supercopa Sudamericana. The final first leg against FC São Paulo ended it 0-0, the second leg 2-1, with Salas scoring both goals for his team. In the same year he was elected to South America's Footballer of the Year and Argentina's footballer of the year.

In addition, the Chilean national soccer team qualified thanks to his goals for the Football World Cup 1998 in France. After the tournament, in which his team was able to advance to the knockout stages and Salas scored four goals, he moved to Lazio.

With Lazio in 2000 he was Italian champion and cup winner. He also won the 1999 European Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, in which he in the victory over Manchester United scored the only goal of the game.

In 2001 he moved to Italian giants Juventus. With Juve he twice won the Scudetto, but his time in Turin was marked by injuries and he graduated from Juventus in two seasons, not even half of the possible duty games and scored only a handful of goals.

After five years in Italy, he returned to Argentina to River Plate. From the season 2005/ 06 he was playing for CF Universidad de Chile and was captain of the Chilean national team, which tried unsuccessfully to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. On 28 November 2008, the scorer of the Chilean selection finished his career at the age of 33 years.

Achievements

Internationally

  • Super Copa Sudamericana: 1997
  • European Cup Winners' Cup: 1999
  • UEFA Super Cup: 1999

National

  • Chilean Championship: 1994, 1995
  • Argentine Championship: 1996 ( Apertura ), 1997 ( Clausura ), 1997 ( Apertura ), 2004 (Clausura)
  • Italian Championship: 2000, 2002, 2003
  • Italian Cup: 2000
  • Italian Super Cup: 1998, 2000, 2002

Individual successes

  • South America's Footballer of the Year: 1997
  • Argentine Footballer of the Year: 1997
  • Top scorer of the Chilean national soccer team
Club Universidad de Chile Club Atlético River Plate S.S. Lazio Coppa Italia 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Manchester United F.C. 1999–2000 Serie A 2001–02 Serie A 2002–03 Serie A
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