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 spend days and nights chasing the ball in the yard, secretly dreaming of becoming famous football players. In this article we will talk about a man who wrote his name in sports history and was nicknamed "Matador". His name is Marcelo Salas.
Birth
The future legendary athlete was born December 24, 1974 in a small Chilean town called Temuco. From an early age, Marcelo Salas began to play football. In his youth, he played for the Universidad Chile team, which hosted their home matches in Santiago. This period of time was quite difficult for the guy, 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 distant capital. However, despite his young age, Marcelo Salas knew perfectly well that it would be practically impossible to achieve success in his native city, and, reluctantly, he continued to work hard in training.
At the age of fifteen, the president of the Temuco team promised the guy that he would release him on the field in a game with the country's grand against Kolo Kolo. As a result, Marcelo really turned out to be on the field, but as a ball player.
First success
Once in Santiago, Marcelo Salas, whose photo is shown below, firmly believed in his bright future. And faith bore fruit.
On April 10, 1994, an extremely significant event took place not only in the life of the football player himself, but also throughout Chilean football. At the age of 20, Marcelo entered the field as a player against the champion and scored three goals at his goal, moreover, in the main arena of the whole state.
Each goal was a kind of small masterpiece. The ball flew into different corners of the goal. Thus, Matador appeared in the country, which literally blew up the entire football community with its appearance. People started talking about him and writing newspapers.
Such success was not one-day. Universidad de Chile has become a two-time champion. Moreover, the club had been waiting for the first line of the tournament for almost a quarter of a century. Salas has become incredibly popular. He was constantly waiting for fans, T-shirts with the 11th number in stores were selling out in an instant. But at the same time, the athlete understood that a successful career can be realized only outside the borders of his native country and he began to think about new prospects.
Relocation to Argentina
In 1996, Marcelo Salas moved to one of the most respected teams in South America - River Plate. Local journalists and the public initially did not accept the football player very friendly and did not want to recognize his obvious talent. And this is despite the fact that already 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. For three consecutive years she was a champion and won the Argentine Super Cup.
Departure to Europe
River Plate fans havenβt enjoyed the success of the team for too long, as stars like Salas will always be seen in the Old World. For the athlete fought such grandees of a 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 a certain point in time in Buenos Aires was the president of Lazio Sergio Craniotti, who was able to pull the Chilean in his direction. Buying a football player cost the Romans $ 18 million.
In Serie A, the athlete did not need too much time to fully adapt. Already in the first season, he scored 11 goals in the championship and 8 in cup games. With the Roman football squad, the footballer won the Cup Winners' Cup.
The then coach of the metropolitan team Sven Goran Ericsson was very happy that he had such a striker. According to the coach, in Salas both technical skill and ability to compete for a position got along well. Despite the fact that the Chilean is not tall and does not have large muscle mass, he quite 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 the champion of the country with the team.
In 2001, the Chilean moved to Juventus. With this team, he reached the final of the 2003 Champions League.
Awards
Before arriving in Italy, Marcelo received the Golden Ball from Uruguayan sports publication El Pais in the nomination "Best South American Football Player." This award turned out to be well deserved, which was confirmed by two goals scored in the winter of 1998 against the English team. This double then helped the Chilean national team to win a truly historic victory over the ancestors of football, and on their own field (the game was held at the legendary Wembley Stadium).
In general, for his national team, Marcelo Salas, whose best goals can be seen in video reruns today, spent 70 matches between 1994 and 2007. During this time, he managed to score 37 goals. In general, Marcelo is exactly the player who very often could decide the outcome of the fight alone.
In November 2008, the football player announced the completion of his sports career. His last team was Universidad de Chile.