 Sánchez in 2011 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 19 December 1988 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Tocopilla, Chile | ||
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)[2] | ||
| Playing position | Forward / Winger | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Barcelona | ||
| Number | 9 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2004–2005 | Cobreloa | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2005–2006 | Cobreloa | 47 | (12) |
| 2006–2011 | Udinese | 95 | (21) |
| 2006–2007 | → Colo-Colo (loan) | 32 | (9) |
| 2007–2008 | → River Plate (loan) | 23 | (4) |
| 2011– | Barcelona | 65 | (28) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007 | Chile U20 | 12 | (2) |
| 2006– | Chile | 64 | (22) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 December 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2013 | |||
Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈleksis ˈsantʃes]; born 19 December 1988) is a Chilean footballer who plays for La Liga club FC Barcelona and the Chile national team, as a forwardor winger.
Club career
Of a hard–working childhood,[citation needed] Alexis was born in Tocopilla where he began to play regional football tournaments playing in the Cobreloa youth ranks.
Udinese
Sánchez joined Udinese Calcio of the Italian Serie A in 2006.
Loan spells
In July 2006, he was loaned to one of Chile's biggest teams, Colo-Colo, on a season-long deal. His loan was due to a maturation project[citation needed] that Udinese implemented with youth players. He won two league titles with Colo Colo. After the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Sánchez was loaned to River Plate in 2007, winning the league title one year later.
Return to Udinese
After a successful season in Argentina, in July 2008, Sánchez left South America to officially join Udinese, where he would suit up with Chilean compatriot Mauricio Isla. Sánchez made his non-competitive debut in a 3–0 win over Bassano and was named the man of match.[3] On 14 September, he played his first game in Serie A in a 1–0 loss with Juventus and four days later, he made his European debut against Borussia Dortmund. On 19 October 2008, Sánchez scored his first league goal againstLecce. After this first goal, Sánchez got into a minor slump, in which he took much criticism. The criticism ended after scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute against Bologna in a 1–0 win, being named the man of match.[citation needed]
In the following season, Sánchez played an important role for Udinese at Coppa Italia 2009–10, being a key player in the team that eliminated Milan, assisting Gökhan Inler for the winning goal.[4] In the semi-final second leg, Sánchez was the man of match after playing a successful game against Roma, including scoring his first Coppa Italia goal in the 81st minute. It was not enough, however, as the aggregate score was 2–1 in favor of Roma.[5] By the end of this year, Sánchez scored a total of five goals (four at the end of tournament) in 32 appearances.
On 27 February 2011, Sánchez scored four of seven goals as his team defeated Palermo 7–0, playing only the first 52 minutes of the game. This event meant he broke the record of goals scored by a Chilean player (in a single match) in the Italian Serie A,[6] thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Iván Zamorano.
During his successful season at Udinese Calcio, Sánchez and Italian striker Antonio Di Natale became one of the best scoring duos in Serie A tallying 39 goals between then, two goals short of the Del Piero–Trezeguet duo that completed 41 goals in the 2007–08 season. In recognition of his achievements he was named the world's most promising youngster of the 2011 season, by the users of FIFA.com, where users had to choose between Sánchez, Gareth Bale, Javier Pastore, Ganso and Neymar in a poll.[7] Sánchez ranked 56th in the May 2011 edition of Castrol Performance Index and 24th among the forwards.
Barcelona
On 20 July 2011, FC Barcelona confirmed they had agreed a €26 million fee (plus €11m in certain bonuses) with Udinese for the transfer of Sánchez, thus becoming the first Chilean to ever play for the club.[8][9][10] "Sánchez is very young," said manager Pep Guardiola. "He can play in all three attacking positions, he shows intense defensive skills, he's direct and from what I've been told, he's a very nice kid."[9] The transfer was finalised five days later when he passed a medical and signed a five-year contract.[11][12] "I want to learn from players like Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernández—and I want to help the club win more titles," said Sánchez.[11]
His debut season for Barcelona was mired with short-term injuries. Sanchez made his debut on 14 August 2011 against arch rivals Real Madrid in the 2012 Supercopa de España first leg away match, and had a thigh injury after a challenge by Marcelo.[13]Barcelona won the tie 5–4 on aggregate. He made his return two weeks later as a substitute in the 2011 UEFA Super Cup, won by Barca 2–0. Alexis then started the opening match of La Liga, at home against Villarreal CF, and scored his first goal in a 5–0 win. A week later, on 10 September 2011, he was stretchered off after 30 minutes following a challenge from Dani Estrada in a La Liga match against Real Sociedad.[14] Sánchez returned on 1 November 2011 in an away match against Viktoria Plzeň.[15] He also scored against Real Madrid on 10 December 2011 to equalize the game which they went on to win 1–3.
On 14 February 2012, Sánchez scored the first and second UEFA Champions League goals of his career in Barcelona's 3–1 victory against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. On 2 October he scored the first goal for Barcelona in a 0–2 win against S.L. Benfica.[16]
On 10 February 2013, Sánchez scored his first goal of the 2012–13 La Liga season in Barça's 6–1 home win against Getafe CF.[17] From February onwards, Sánchez scored in matches against Deportivo de La Coruña, Real Mallorca, Athletic Club, Real Betis, Atlético de Madrid and RCD Espanyol to end the season with eight league goals.[18] Barcelona won the league title, ending the season with 100 points.
On 26 October 2013, Sánchez scored the winning goal as Barça beat Real Madrid 2–1 at Camp Nou in the first El Clásico of the 2013–14 La Liga season.[19]
International career
Sánchez made his international debut for his national team against New Zealand on 27 April 2006. He was called up by the coach José Sulantay to play with his country in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup celebrated in Canada, achieving an historic performance, finishing in third place of the tournament.
After his participation in the youth championship, he scored his first goal for the senior Chile national team in a 2–1 loss against Switzerland on 7 September 2007. Due to the three-months injury that he suffered playing for River Plate, Sánchez missed the first four games of the FIFA World Cup qualification. Fully recovered now, he led to Chile to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, becoming the team's star player. His best game during the qualifiers was in a 4–0 win overBolivia, scoring two goals in the victory.
On 15 November 2013, Sánchez scored both goals as Chile beat England 2–0 at Wembley Stadium, repeating the achievement of national team legendMarcelo Salas in 1998.[21]
International goals
- Score and Result lists Chile's goals first
