Julio Salinas

Athletic and Atlético

Salinas was born in Bilbao, Biscay, joining Athletic Bilbao's youth academy at the age of 11. In 1983–84, he won the Segunda División's Pichichi Trophy award as he helped the reserves to finish runners-up to Castilla. He also played 13 games for the first team over two seasons, scoring his first La Liga goal on 26 March 1983 in a 4–0 home win against Celta de Vigo as the Basques captured back-to-back league titles and added the 1984 Copa del Rey. After two more seasons with Athletic, scoring a total of 12 goals for two-third-place finishes, Salinas moved to Atlético Madrid, where he found the net at an impressive rate (this included a brace on 7 February 1988 in a 7–0 home thrashing of Mallorca).

Barcelona

Salinas signed for Barcelona for 1988–89, linking up with several other Basque players, including veteran José Ramón Alexanko, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain and Jon Andoni Goikoetxea – these would help form the backbone of the legendary Dream Team. He scored 20 league goals in his debut campaign as Barça finished second to Real Madrid, and he also netted in both the 1989 Cup Winners' Cup final against Sampdoria and in the following year's domestic cup 2–0 victory over Real Madrid. In the subsequent seasons, Salinas appeared sparingly for the club due to his age and the signing of attacking players as Hristo Stoichkov, but would still manage to grab some important goals in spite of limited playing time. On 30 January 1994, after…

Salinas represented the Spain national team over a decade, scoring 22 goals. His debut was on 22 January 1986 as he netted in a 2–0 friendly win over the Soviet Union, in Las Palmas. Salinas went on to represent the country at three FIFA World Cups: 1986 (where he scored against Northern Ireland), 1990 (netting in the second-round loss to Yugoslavia) and 1994, as well as two UEFA European Championships, 1988 and 1996. In the 1994 World Cup quarter-final against Italy, after he had found the net in a 2–2 draw against South Korea, Salinas missed the chance to put Spain into the last-four stage. With 1–1 and less than ten minutes to go, he marred a fast-break, with only goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca to beat; Roberto Baggio sealed the 2–1 final result minutes later, and the Spaniard was ultimately more remembered for this miss rather than the massive number of goals scored during an 18-year professional career.

Club

International

Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Salinas goal.

Salinas' younger brother, Patxi, was also a professional footballer (centre-back), and played for Athletic Bilbao and Celta. Both made their top division debut in the 1982–83 season. They held the record for combined appearances in the Spanish top tier by siblings with 849 matches (occasions where they both played as teammates or opponents counted for each), 86 more than the next pair, Quini and Jesús Castro.