Marcelo Salas

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…

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…

Club

International

International goals

Score and Result lists Chile's goals first

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. Salas gave his backing to José Antonio Kast in the run-up to the 2021 Chilean presidential election.