Marcelo Salas is a Chilean football sorcerer

The Latin American land has always been famous for its many football stars. For many of them, football has become not just a means of earning, it is the meaning of life. Since childhood, many boys are chasing the ball in the yard all day long, secretly dreaming of becoming famous footballers. In this article we will talk about a man who entered his name in sports history and wore the nickname "Matador". His name is Marcelo Salas.

Birth

The future legendary athlete was born on December 24, 1974 in a small Chilean town called Temuco. From an early age, Marcelo Salas started playing football. In his youth, he played for the team "Univesidad Chile", which held their home games in Santiago. For a guy, this period of time was quite difficult, because his parents, friends, relatives lived in Temuco.

Bitterness of disappointment

Young football talent - Marcelo, repeatedly tried to go home. He was very homesick for his homeland, and his father did not have the financial ability to often visit him in such a remote capital. However, despite the young age, Marcelo Salas was well aware that it would be almost impossible to achieve success in his native city, and, reluctantly, continued to work hard in training.

At the age of fifteen, the president of the Temuco team promised the guy that he would definitely release him on the field in a game with the country's grandee against Kolo Kolo. In the end, Marcelo really turned out to be on the field, but as the person giving the ball.

First success

Marcelo Salas, who appeared in Santiago, whose photo is below, firmly believed in his bright future. And faith has borne fruit.

April 10, 1994 there was an extremely significant event not only in the life of the player himself, but also all Chilean football. In his 20 years, Marcelo came on the field as a player against the champion and scored three goals at his gate, and in the main arena of the whole state.

Every goal was such a small masterpiece. The ball flew in different corners of the gate. Thus, the country appeared "Matador", which literally blew up the entire football community by its appearance. People started talking about him and writing newspapers.

Such a success was not one-day. "Universidad de Chile" became a two-time champion. And the first line of the tournament the club had been waiting for almost a quarter of a century. Salas became very popular. He was always waiting for fans, T-shirts with the 11th number in stores were sold out in a jiffy. But at the same time, the athlete understood that a successful career can only be carried out outside his native country and he began to think about new prospects.

Moving to Argentina

In 1996, Marcelo Salas moved to one of the most authoritative teams in South America - River Plate. Local journalists and public initially did not accept the footballer very friendly and did not want to recognize his obvious talent. And it's even despite the fact that in the first game he scored a goal against the opponent. However, the Chilean was able to quickly pacify the skeptics and show what he is capable of. Literally with each match the number of his fans grew, and the results of his team were more than positive. Three years in a row she was a champion and won the Argentine Super Cup.

Departure to Europe

Fans of River Plate did not enjoy the team's success for too long, since such stars as Salas will always be seen in the Old World. For the athlete struggled such grandees of the European T-shirt, as: "Juventus", "Parma", "Milan", "Napoli".

As it turned out, Marcelo Salas is a football player who knows how to make the right choice. At some point in time in Buenos Aires was the president of "Lazio" Sergio Craniotti, who was able to pull the Chilean in his side. The purchase of the player cost the Romans 18 million dollars.

In the Serie A, the athlete did not take too much time to fully adapt. Already in the first season he hammered 11 goals in the championship and 8 in the cup games. With the Roman football team, the football player won the Cup Winners' Cup.

The then coach of the capital's team Sven Goran Eriksson was very happy that he has such a forward. According to the coach, in Salas, both technical skill as well as the ability to compete for a position perfectly coexisted. Despite the fact that the Chilean is not tall and does not have a large muscle mass, he was fairly easily pushed between the defenders, achieving the desired position on the field.

In addition, Marcelo Salas, whose biography is full of various victories, has another amazing quality: wherever he plays, he always becomes with the team champion of the country.

In 2001 the Chilean moved to Juventus. With this team, he reached the final of the Champions League in 2003.

Awards

Before being in Italy, Marcelo received the "Golden Ball" from Uruguayan sports publication El Pais in the nomination "Best South American Footballer". This award was well deserved, which confirmed two goals scored in the winter of 1998 in the gates of the English national team. This double helped then the Chilean team to win a truly historic victory over the ancestors of football, and in their own field (the game took place at the legendary Wembley Stadium).

In general, for his national team Marcelo Salas, whose best goals can be seen in the video repetitions and today, spent 70 matches between 1994 and 2007. During this time he managed to score 37 goals. In general, Marcelo - this is exactly the player who very often could decide the outcome of the fight alone.

In November 2008, the football player announced the end of his sports career. His last team was the Universidad de Chile.