Claudio Bravo is the goalkeeper from Chile, who plays for the English club Manchester City. This year he turned 33 years old, but so far he has not shown signs of aging and is playing at a fairly high level, being at the peak of his career. Claudio Bravo acts exclusively as a goalkeeper and is remembered for his sharp take-off thanks to the 2014 World Cup.
Carier start
Claudio Bravo is a goalkeeper born April 13, 1983 in Chile, where he began to get involved in football. His father saw him as a real goalkeeper talent and took him to the academy of the local club Kolo-Kolo. There Bravo trained for a long time and in 2001 signed a professional contract with this club.
However, he made his debut in the club far from immediately. At first, Claudio was on the bench, and only in 2003, when the main goalkeeper suffered a serious injury, the young Chilean was able to shine. In his very first season, he entered the field in 26 matches, and even when the main goalkeeper recovered, Bravo firmly took his place in the goal.
The next two and a half years, the main goalkeeper of the “Kolo-Kolo” was Claudio Bravo. The goalkeeper spent a total of 133 matches for the team, winning the Chile Championship with her in 2005. And in the summer of 2006, an offer came from Europe - Real Sociedad wanted to see a 23-year-old Chilean goalkeeper in its ranks. As a result, the transfer took place, and Kolo-Kolo received one and a half million euros for its pupil.
Relocation to Europe
In the new club, Claudio Bravo, a goalkeeper with no experience playing in Europe, immediately took a place at the base. In the first season, he played 30 matches, impressing the fans. However, in 2007 he was on the bench, and a place in the gate took Riesgo. But a year later, a Chilean competitor left the club, and Bravo became the full-fledged number one for the next six years. During this time, he played for Real Sociedad 237 matches, entering the top ten club record holders. And in the summer of 2014, the World Cup was held, at which Bravo showed himself in all its glory, having interested leading European clubs. If before that he calmly played for Real Sociedad and didn’t aspire to anything more, then in 2014 unlimited opportunities opened up before him. As a result, for 12 million euros, he moved to one of the strongest clubs in the world - to the Catalan Barcelona.
Going to Barcelona
Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo immediately turned out to be one of the team’s key figures - in two seasons he spent 72 matches, having won the Spanish Championship twice, the Spanish Cup twice, and the Champions League once. But in the summer of 2016 an interesting story happened, because of which Bravo left the club. The fact is that the English “Manchester City” was headed by Pep Guardiola, who wanted to see such a goalkeeper as Bravo in his club, but he had Joe Hart, team captain and fan favorite. However, Guardiola is known for his huge ego, so he survived from the Hart club, and Barcelona by that time had promised the young German keeper ter Stegen that he would become number one. Therefore, in August, for 18 million euros, Claudio Bravo moved to Manchester City.
Manchester City Game
The Chilean has signed a four-year contract with the English club and has played ten games this season, in four of which he has not missed a single goal. Guardiola fully trusts Claudio, so in the next two or three years he has nothing to worry about: he will always have a place at the base in Manchester City.
Team appearances
Claudio Bravo has been playing in the Chilean team for a very long time - since 2004, when he made his debut in the match against the Paraguayan national team in the 2004 America's Cup. To date, he has played 106 matches for the national team and is a record holder: not a single Chilean soccer player has gone on the field so often in his national team shirt. He has been captain of the national team since 2009, played at the 2010 and 2014 World Championships, as well as at the 2015 and 2016 American Cups triumphant for Chileans.