This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Sánchez and the second or maternal family name isSánchez.
 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 | (20) |
| 2006–2007 | → Colo-Colo (loan) | 32 | (5) |
| 2007–2008 | → River Plate (loan) | 23 | (4) |
| 2011– | Barcelona | 56 | (21) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007 | Chile U20 | 12 | (2) |
| 2006– | Chile | 58 | (17) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 August 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 September 2012 | |||
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 forward or winger.
Of a hard–working childhood, Alexis was born in Tocopilla where he began to play regional football tournaments playing in the Cobreloa youth ranks. In 2006, Sánchez moved to one of Chile's most successful teams Colo-Colo thanks to coach Claudio Borghi who invited him to play at Pedreros. After an impressiveFIFA U-20 World Cup, Sánchez signed up with River Plate in 2007, distinguishing himself as player, winning the league title one year later.
Contents
[hide]Club career
Udinese
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. After a notable season in the Cacique, and winning two league titles, it was assumed that Sánchez would return to Italy. He was loaned out again, however, this time to Argentina's River Plate.
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 Ain a 1–0 loss with Juventus and four days later, he made his European debut againstBorussia 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 againstBologna 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 Palermo7–0, 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 strikerAntonio 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 100points.
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 in the Marcelo Bielsa era 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 theFIFA 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 over Bolivia, scoring two goals of the victory.
International goals
- Score and Result lists Chile's goals first
| [show]Sánchez – goals for Chile[19] |
|---|
Career statistics
Club
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental1 | Others2 | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
| Cobreloa | 2005 | 35 | 3 | – | – | 3 | 0 | - | – | 38 | 3 | – | ||||
| 2006 | 12 | 9 | – | – | – | – | 12 | 9 | – | |||||||
| Total | 47 | 12 | – | – | 3 | 0 | – | – | 50 | 12 | – | |||||
| Colo-Colo | 2006 | 18 | 4 | – | – | 9 | 1 | – | – | 27 | 5 | – | ||||
| 2007 | 14 | 1 | – | – | 7 | 3 | – | – | 21 | 4 | – | |||||
| Total | 32 | 5 | – | – | 16 | 4 | – | – | 48 | 9 | – | |||||
| River Plate | 2007–08 | 23 | 4 | – | – | 8 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 4 | – | ||||
| Total | 23 | 4 | – | – | 8 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 4 | – | |||||
| Udinese | 2008–09 | 32 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | – | 43 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 2009–10 | 32 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 36 | 6 | 3 | |||||
| 2010–11 | 31 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 33 | 12 | 6 | |||||
| Total | 95 | 20 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | – | 112 | 21 | 11 | |||
| Barcelona | 2011–12 | 25 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 15 | 5 |
| 2012–13 | 29 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 11 | 13 | |
| 2013–14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 56 | 21 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 27 | 18 | |
| Career total | 253 | 62 | 25 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 51 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 331 | 73 | 29 | |
1Includes continental competitive competitions, including the Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana and UEFA Champions League.
2Includes other competitive competitions, including the FIFA Club World Cup, Supercopa de España and UEFA Super Cup.
National team
| Chile national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2006 | 5 | 0 |
| 2007 | 4 | 1 |
| 2008 | 9 | 2 |
| 2009 | 9 | 5 |
| 2010 | 7 | 4 |
| 2011 | 11 | 2 |
| 2012 | 8 | 0 |
| 2013 | 4 | 1 |
| Total | 57 | 15 |
Honours
Club
- Colo-Colo
- River Plate
- Barcelona
- La Liga: 2012–13
- Copa del Rey: 2011–12
- Supercopa de España: 2011; Runner-up 2012
- UEFA Super Cup: 2011
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2011
International
- FIFA U-20 World Cup: Third place 2007
Individual
- Serie A Player of the Month: February 2011
Personal life
Sánchez's adoptive father, José Delaigue, died of a heart attack in June 2011 at age 75. On 19 June, in Chile's 4–0 win over Estonia, on his team's last goal that Sánchez scored he removed his jersey during his celebration to reveal a photo of Delaigue on his undershirt.
References
- ^ a b "Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez". soccerway.com. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
- ^ "Alexis Alejandro Sánchez". FC Barcelona. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ "Gran debut de Alexis Sánchez en Udinese". adn mundo.cl(in Spanish). Archived from the original on 29 July 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2008.
- ^ "Gokhan Inler Sends The Rossoneri Packing From Coppa Italia". goal.com. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
- ^ "Alexis Sánchez anotó en eliminación de Udinese ante la Roma" (in Italian). triunfo.cl. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
- ^ "Alexis Sanchez’s Quart-Trick Demolished Palermo".serieaticketsonline.com. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ "Udinese's Alexis Sanchez voted the world's most promising youngster in Fifa poll". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ "Barça sign Alexis Sánchez". FC Barcelona. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
- ^ a b "Alexis Sanchez joins Barcelona from Udinese for £23m". BBC Sport. 21 July 2011. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- ^ "Barcelona confirm £23.75m deal to buy Alexis Sánchez from Udinese". The Guardian. 21 July 2011. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- ^ a b "Barcelona new boy Sanchez fits straight in... with call for Fabregas to join him". Daily Mail. 25 July 2011. Archivedfrom the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- ^ "Messi and Sanchez miss Barcelona's Stateside clash with Man United". Daily Mail. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- ^ Alexis Sanchez sidelined one week with injury | Barcaloco.com – Everything for the Barça fan. Barcaloco.com. Retrieved on 2012-09-13.
- ^http://twitter.com/#!/FCBarcelona/status/112563930005635073
- ^ Report: Viktoria Plzen v Barcelona – UEFA Champions League – ESPNFC. Soccernet.espn.go.com (2011-11-01). Retrieved on 2012-09-13.
- ^ Report: Benfica v Barcelona – UEFA Champions League – UEFA. UEFA.com (2012-10-02). Retrieved on 2012-10-02.
- ^ "Sanchez relieved to break goal drought". 10 February 2013.
- ^ Alexis Sánchez at Transfermarkt
- ^ a b "Alexis Sánchez". National Football Teams. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- ^ Sánchez Chile career stats
- ^ "Alexis Sánchez stats". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- ^ "Sánchez career stats". Transfermarkt. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- ^ "Goal against Rayo Vallecano was officially given to Sánchez by referee". Real Federación Española de Fútbol (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2012.
