Marcelo Salas

José Marcelo Salas Melinao (; born 24 December 1974), nicknamed Matador (due to his goalscoring celebrations), El Fenómeno and Shileno, is a Chilean former footballer who played as a striker. Salas is considered the best striker in the history of Chile. He stood out during the 1990s and 2000s in clubs such as Universidad de Chile, River Plate, Lazio and Juventus. He was the captain of the Chile national team and the top scorer – scoring 45 goals in total: 37 goals for the Chile national football team (4 in World Cups, 18 in World Cup qualification processes and 15 in friendlies) and 8 goals with the Chile Olympic football team.

He played in Chile, Argentina and Italy, winning titles with each club he joined.

The IFFHS ranked him as the 31st best South American player of the 20th century, the 19th best South American forward of the 20th century and the 3rd best South American forward of the 1990s (integrating the podium with Brazilians players Ronaldo and Romário). In 1997 he ranked 3rd as the "best centre forward in the world" (after players Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta) and he was ranked 5th in the "Best Centre Forward" category in the RSS Award for the best footballer of the year, in 1998 and 1999. He was also named the South American Footballer of the Year in 1997.

Salas was a forward known for his physical strength, work rate, technique, left-footed finishing, and aerial ability. He maintained a strong goalscoring record throughout his career and was regarded as one of the leading forwards in international football during the late 1990s and early 2000s, drawing comparisons with Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta.

Salas is considered one of the greatest players in the history of Universidad de Chile, an icon for the football team River Plate of Argentina, and one of the greatest foreign players in Lazio's history. He played for the Chile national football team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, where he scored four goals in four matches, leading his team to the second round of the competition. Additionally, Salas played for the Chile national football team at two Copa América tournaments, helping his team to reach fourth place in the 1999 edition of the tournament.

Currently, after his retirement as a football player, he has continued linked to the sport, being since May 2013 the president of Deportes Temuco (a club that on that date absorbed Unión Temuco, owned by him from 2008 to April 2013). The club is now in 2nd division of Chile, the Primera B.

Club career Universidad de Chile Born in Temuco, Salas played for the Deportes Temuco youth team until his father took him to Santiago de Chile to be incorporated into the Universidad de Chile team.

Salas joined the Universidad de Chile team in 1993 and debuted on 4 January 1994 in a match against Cobreloa where he scored a goal. Finally, Salas was consolidated in the match against Colo Colo at the National Stadium, where he scored a Hat-trick in the 4–1 victory. His great performances quickly led the university fans to give him the nickname of "Matador" due to his cold blood when defining, also inspired by the song of the same name by the Argentine musical group Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, which at that time was fashionable in Latin America. It was also at this time that he patented his particular way of celebrating goals: he put one leg down, bowed his head, stretched his right arm and pointed his index finger towards the sky.

Salas helped the team win back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, he was an essential player for the Universidad de Chile team, as he was their top scorer in both seasons (27 goals in the first season and 17 goals in the second season). Leaving a trail of 76 goals which included a strong 1996 campaign in the Copa Libertadores.

River Plate Later in 1996, Salas moved to Argentina to play in River Plate team of the Argentine first division of football. On 30 September 1996 he scored his first goal, in a match played against Boca Juniors at the La Bombonera stadium. In November, he made a late substitute appearance in the 1–0 defeat to Juventus in the 1996 Intercontinental Cup final. From 1996 to 1998 Salas scored 31 goals in 67 games, helping River to win the Torneo de Apertura 1996 (where he scored two goals in the 3–0 win over Vélez Sarsfield that made him champion), the Clausura 1997, the Apertura 1997 (scoring the title goal against Argentinos Juniors), and the 1997 Supercopa Libertadores, where he scored the 2 goals in the final against São Paulo that gave the millionaire club the cup. In addition, he was elected the Best Footballer of the season in Argentina and South American Footballer of the Year in 1997. These accomplishments would cement his legacy in Argentina as one of its greatest foreign born players earning the nickname, "El shileno (sic) Salas".

The Argentine team valued his transfer at US$30,000,000 as the English football club Manchester United (The coach Alex Ferguson wanted a player with the characteristics of Ronaldo and Marcelo Salas to replace the retirement of Eric Cantona, Ferguson traveled 14,000 miles to sign Salas, but River Plate refused to sell him. ), in addition to great clubs from Italy and Spain for hiring him.

Lazio On 1 February 1998, thanks to his good performances both in Argentina and in the Chile national football team, he was sold to SS Lazio in Italy for US$20.5 million. becoming the highest transfer in history at that time, after Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Denilson (to Inter Milan from Italy, Barcelona and Betis from Spain, respectively).

Salas played in Italy for five years: three years with SS Lazio (1998–2001), a key catalyst in helping turn around a Lazio team that hadn't won a Scudetto since the 1973–1974 season. He made his debut for Lazio on 12 August 1998 against the UEFA Champions League champion, the Real Madrid of Spain, where he scored the second goal of his team, in the Teresa Herrera Trophy. His official debut was for the Supercoppa italiana where his team won the competition after winning 2–1 over Juventus FC, on 29 August 1998.

Salas quickly became an idol of the Lazio tifosi, who would dedicate songs to him. The most prominent being "Matador, Matador, che ce frega de Ronaldo noi c'avemo er Matador" (Matador, Matador, what do we care about Ronaldo if we have the Matador).

After rejecting offers of US$30,000,000 from important football club as: Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, Parma, AC Milan and Inter Milan. was in negotiations with Real Madrid to become, together with Zinedine Zidane, one of the two great "meringues" signings of 2001. However, the transfer failed, largely due to the exorbitant sum that the Spanish club had invested in the signing of Zidane. Finally, that same year he signed for Juventus, with the club paying €25,000,000 (US$28,500,000) for him, which at the time was the most expensive transfer of a Chilean player.

Juventus In 2001, he was transferred to Juventus for 55 billion lire (€28.5 million by fixed exchange rate; 22 billion lire cash plus Darko Kovačević ). His stay in Turin was cut short due to a torn ACL in his right knee in a Serie A match against Bologna in October 2001. Salas endured one of the worst moments of his career at the club; he was hampered by injuries, including a further issue with his knee meniscus the following season. During his two seasons at the club, he was only able to take part in 31 games, scoring just four goals across all competitions, despite winning consecutive Serie A titles and the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana, providing an assist for Alessandro Del Piero's opening goal in the 2–1 victory over Parma in the latter competition. He scored his first goal for the club from a penalty in September 2001, the match-winning goal in a 3–2 comeback home win over Chievo in Serie A. In the Derby della Mole against cross-city rivals Torino the following month, however, he missed a potentially match-winning penalty as Torino came back from 3–0 to tie the match 3–3. His final goal for the club came from a penalty, in a 2–0 win against Reggina in December 2002, in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia. Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, A.C. Milan, and Sporting Lisbon (in exchange for the transfer of a young Cristiano Ronaldo), in 2003 he was loaned back to River Plate.

Hailed as "Saint Matador" by fans, Salas stood out especially in that year's Copa Sudamericana, but could not prevent his team's defeat in the final against Cienciano of Peru, despite scoring the tying goal 3–3 in the first leg. However, he later achieved a new title: the 2004 Clausura.

A year later, he helped River Plate reach the semifinals of the 2005 Copa Libertadores, scoring a hat-trick against Liga de Quito. In his second stay at River Plate, Salas scored 17 goals in 43 games.

Marcelo Salas is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of River Plate, along with Ángel Labruna, Enzo Francescoli, Ramón Díaz, Norberto Alonso, Ubaldo Fillol and Amadeo Carrizo. In addition, he was one of the few foreign players who have worn the Millonarios captain armband.

Universidad de Chile Between 2004 and 2005 he received offers to return to European football from Barcelona in Spain and Inter Milan in Italy, among others.

In late July 2005, it was confirmed that he would return to his original team, Universidad de Chile, on a temporary deal from Juventus.

Salas announced his retirement on 28 November 2008, at the age of 33. Before the 23 November game where the Universidad de Chile beat Cobreloa 3–2, with two goals from Salas at the National Stadium.

Retirement Salas played his last game on 2 June 2009. Amongst the invited players were his friends from the 1993–1996 Universidad de Chile squads, River Plate, Juventus, plus members of Chile's France '98 World Cup squad. More than 60,000 people attended to pay him one final salute. Playing for both sides, he managed to score three goals.

International career Salas represented Chile at under-20 level in 1993 alongside players such as Francisco Rojas, Claudio Lizama and Claudio Villan.

On 30 April 1994 at the National Stadium, Salas made his debut for the Chile national football team at age 19, scoring his first international goal in a 3–3 draw with Argentina of Diego Maradona, who was preparing for the World Cup 1994.

In 1995 his team won the Canada Cup, where Salas scored the "goal of the victory" in the final match against Canada (2–1).

During the 1998 World Cup qualification campaign, Salas scored 11 goals. He also scored memorable goals: against Argentina of local, in Quito of visit against Ecuador and of local against Uruguay, including hat-tricks against Colombia and Peru, and a goal in the final match against Bolivia. Against Peru, he became the youngest Chilean footballer to wear the captain's belt, at just 22 years old.

During the training for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, Chile played a friendly match with England in front of about 65,000 people at the legendary Wembley Stadium on 11 February 1998. In a memorable match, Chile won 2–0 with goals of "The Killer". The first, without letting the ball touch the ground after a pass of more than 60 meters. The second, a penalty that he created dribbling the English defender Sol Campbell.

In 1998, Marcelo Salas had an outstanding performance in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, reaching the 16th round of the tournament. He scored 4 goals: two against Italy, one against Austria and one against Brazil positioning himself as the third-best scorer of the World Cup in that year, along with Brazilian striker Ronaldo, being only 1 away from the bronze boot, and 2 from the golden boot.

International

International goals Score and Result lists Chile's goals first Date Venue Opponent Score Competition 1 18 May 1994 Santiago 3–3 International match 2 29 March 1995 Los Angeles 2–1 International match 3 22 April 1995 Temuco 1–1 International match 4 28 May 1995 Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton 2–1 Canada Cup 5 11 October 1995 Concepción 2–0 International match 6 14 February 1996 Coquimbo 4–0 International match 7 26 May 1996 Santiago 2–0 International match 8 26 May 1996 Santiago 2–0 International match 9 6 July 1996 Santiago 4–1 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 10 25 August 1996 Liberia 1–1 International match 11 12 November 1996 Santiago 1–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 12 8 June 1997 Quito 1–1 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 13 5 July 1997 Santiago 4–1 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 14 5 July 1997 Santiago 4–1 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 15 5 July 1997 Santiago 4–1 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 16 10 September 1997 Santiago 1–2 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 17 12 October 1997 Santiago 4–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 18 12 October 1997 Santiago 4–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 19 12 October 1997 Santiago 4–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 20 16 November 1997 Santiago 3–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 21 11 February 1998 Wembley Stadium, London 2–0 International match 22 11 February 1998 Wembley Stadium, London 2–0 International match 23 22 April 1998 Santiago 2–2 International match 24 24 May 1998 Santiago 2–2 International match 25 31 May 1998 Montélimar 3–2 International match 26 4 June 1998 Avignon 1–1 International match 27 11 June 1998 Parc Lescure, Bordeaux 2–2 1998 FIFA World Cup 28 11 June 1998 Parc Lescure, Bordeaux 2–2 1998 FIFA World Cup 29 17 June 1998 Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne 1–1 1998 FIFA World Cup 30 27 June 1998 Parc des Princes, Paris 1–4 1998 FIFA World Cup 31 29 June 2000 Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago 3–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 32 15 August 2000 Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago 3–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 33 14 August 2001 Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago 2–2 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 34 14 August 2001 Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago 2–2 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 35 4 June 2005 Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago 3–1 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 36 18 November 2007 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo 2–2 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 37 18 November 2007 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo 2–2 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Personal life He is the nephew-in-law of the former Chile international footballer Sergio Messen since his wife, Carolina Messen, is Sergio's niece.

His maternal surname, Melinao, means "four lions" in Mapudungun.

Honours

Club Universidad de Chile Primera División de Chile: 1994, 1995

River Plate Argentine Primera División: 1996 Apertura, 1997 Clausura, 1997 Apertura, 2004 Clausura Supercopa Libertadores: 1997

Lazio Serie A: 1999–2000 Coppa Italia: 1999–2000 Supercoppa Italiana: 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998–99 UEFA Super Cup: 1999

Juventus Serie A: 2001–02, 2002–03 Supercoppa Italiana: 2002

Individual Copa Chile Top scorer: 1994 America's Ideal Team: 1996, 1997 South American Footballer of the Year: 1997 Argentine Footballer of the Year: 1997 Olimpia Award: 1997 Chile's Best Athlete Award: 1997 3rd "Best Centre Forward in the World" RSS Award for the best footballer of the year: 1997 Chilean Footballer of the Year: 1997, 1998 Included within the 10 figures of 1998 FIFA World Cup 5th "Best Centre Forward in the World" RSS Award for the best footballer of the year: 1998 Integra the Rest of the world in sports and games 1998 5th "Best Centre Forward in the World" RSS Award for the best footballer of the year: 1999 Best South American striker of the 1990s by IFFHS: No. 3 Best South American striker of the 20th century by IFFHS: No. 19 Best South American player of the 20th century by IFFHS: No. 31 Order of the Liberator General San Martín: 2009 Included in the Top 10 Best Scorers in the History of South American Soccer 7th best South American left-foot soccer player in history ("Bleacher Report" magazine) 4th best striker in the history of South America of the 1990s Included in the best 50 soccer players in history representative of each country by These Football Times (The Guardian) Included in the 50 Greatest South American Footballers of All Time: #27

Tributes

In the year 2004 the River Plate club of Argentina honored and immortalized the figure of Marcelo Salas with a portrait of the image of the "Matador" in the dressing rooms of the Monumental de Nuñez Stadium, being included among the most prominent idols in the club's history. Also in the year 2009, at the inauguration of the museum of the Argentine club, the goals of Marcelo Salas are portrayed in videos and images (the goals of the titles of the Apertura 1996, Clausura 1997, Apertura 1997, Supercopa Sudamericana 1997, among others), in addition to the shirts and boots that Marcelo Salas wore while he played in River Plate.

In the year 2013 Marcelo Salas received a tribute from the English Football Federation at Wembley Stadium for his "excellent performance" in the England vs Chile match from 11 February from 1998. Where his first goal of that match is portrayed in the museum of said stadium, as one of the best goals in all history scored at Wembley Stadium.

Players tribute

Long is the list of public figures whose idol is the "Matador" where several of them have decided to honor Marcelo Salas by imitating his typical celebration after scoring a goal: knee to the ground, head bowed and one arm pointing to the sky. Among the players who have Salas as an idol, the following stand out:

Football players

Alexis Sánchez Arturo Vidal Charles Aránguiz David Pizarro David Trezeguet Eduardo Vargas Gastón Fernández Gonzalo Higuaín Humberto Suazo Javier Saviola José Luis Villanueva Marcelo Díaz Marcelo Larrondo Mauricio Isla Pablo Aimar Radamel Falcao Santiago Solari Carla Guerrero Christiane Endler Camila Pavez Maximiliano Salas

Golfer

Nicole Perrot

Tennis players

Guillermo Coria Facundo Bagnis Federico Coria Felipe Arevalo

Tributes from the world of music On 16 October 1997, Jay Kay, lead singer of the English band Jamiroquai, paid tribute to Marcelo Salas, in his presentation with the band at the Teatro Caupolicán, wearing the traditional shirt number 11 from Salas where he celebrated as the Matador on stage

On 11 February 1998 the Irish band U2 performed in Chile for the first time. That day the vocalist and leader Bono went on stage at the National Stadium along with the rest of the members wearing Marcelo Salas' jersey number 11, where at the same time Salas' goals playing for Chile against England at Wembley Stadium were displayed on a giant screen.