| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez | ||
| Date of birth | 19 December 1988 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Tocopilla, Chile | ||
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)[2] | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Barcelona | ||
| Number | 9 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2003–2004 | Cobreloa | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2005–2006 | Cobreloa | 41 | (9) |
| 2006–2011 | Udinese | 95 | (20) |
| 2006–2007 | → Colo-Colo (loan) | 27 | (5) |
| 2007–2008 | → River Plate (loan) | 28 | (4) |
| 2011– | Barcelona | 8 | (5) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007 | Chile U20 | 12 | (3) |
| 2006– | Chile | 44 | (14) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:46, 26 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez (IPA: [aˈleksis ˈsantʃes]; born 19 December 1988), is a Chilean footballer who plays as a forward for FC Barcelona and for the Chilean national team. He is well known for his excellent dribbling ability, great speed and his unusual strength for a fast winger.
Sánchez began his career as a youth player for Cobreloa in 2003, aged 15, for then be promoted to the first adult team, two years later. His precocious talent caught the attention of Udinese, team of the Italian Serie A, and signed the 17-year-old for US$3million in May 2006, but was immediately loaned out to Colo-Colo, and then River Plate where he was able to mature in less physically demanding confines than the Italian first division.
He joined Udinese after becoming champion of the Argentina and Chilean leagues in June 2008. Sánchez made a steady progress in his first two seasons at Udinese, and in the 2010-11 season he established himself as one of the key player's that allowed Udinese to finish fourth in Serie A. 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, thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano.
Sánchez made his international debut for his national team against New Zealand in April 2006, becoming the youngest player ever playing for the national team with only 17 years and 4 months, and scored his first goal against Switzerland in a 2–1 loss, being also the first goal of the Marcelo Bielsa era. During the Bielsa period, he was Chile's top scorer with 12 goals, surpassing Humberto Suazo's previous record of 11 goals.
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Sánchez was born in Tocopilla to a family of fishermen. His biological father abandoned Sánchez and his family to go work in a mine, leaving Sánchez to help his family out financially from an early age.
According to his relatives and his closest friends, Sánchez was an extroverted boy at school. Sánchez washed cars in a graveyard to earn some money. His fanaticism for football was shared with all his family, especially with José Delaigue, his uncle-in law and adoptive father. Being a former amateur football player, Delaigue saw great potential in the young Sánchez.[3]
At the age of 15 while playing football with his friends in the neighborhood, he impressed the mayor of Tocopilla, who awarded him his first football boots. The mayor's decision was a worthwhile one, while playing for Tocopilla in a regional tournament, Sánchez dominated, in one particular match he scored 8 goals.
Sánchez joined Cobreloa in 2004 and eventually made his first-team debut one year later at the age of 16 on 12 February 2005 in a 5–4 win against Deportes Temuco. In his second professional game, he set a Copa Libertadores record by becoming the youngest player to debut in the South American Club Championship. In the next season, Sánchez concentrated on his goal scoring for the Torneo Apertura 2006, netting six goals in 12 appearances. On 21 July, Cobreloa sold Sánchez to the Italian side Udinese for $3 million.
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 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.
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.[4] 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 against Lecce. 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.
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 AC Milan, assisting Gökhan Inler for the winning goal.[5] 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.[6] 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,[7] thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Ivan 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 and Ganso in a poll.[8] Sánchez ranked 56th in the May 2011 edition of Castrol Performance Index and 24th among the forwards.
On 20 July 2011, FC Barcelona confirmed they had agreed a €26 million fee (plus certain bonuses) with Udinese for the transfer of Sánchez, thus becoming the first Chilean to ever play for the club.[9][10][11] "Sánchez is very young," said manager Josep 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."[10] The transfer was finalised five days later when he passed a medical and signed a five-year contract.[12][13] "I want to learn from players like Messi and Xavi—and I want to help the club win more titles," said Sánchez.[12]
He made his debut against arch rivals Real Madrid. He scored his first goal in his first La Liga match against Villarreal in a 5-0 win. 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 Plzen.[15] He also scored against Real Madrid on 10 December 2011 to equalize the game which they went on to win 1-3
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 for 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 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 over Bolivia, scoring two goals of the victory.
Prior to the 2011 Copa América, Sánchez had scored 2 goals in 4 games, against Uruguay and Estonia. On 29 June 2011, he was selected in the 23-man squad for Copa América.
| Sánchez – goals for Chile[16] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1. | 7 September 2007 | Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria | Switzerland | 1–1 | 2–1 | Friendly match |
| 2. | 4 June 2008 | Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile | Guatemala | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly match |
| 3. | 4 June 2008 | Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile | Guatemala | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly match |
| 4. | 11 February 2009 | Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, South Africa | South Africa | 0–2 | 0–2 | Friendly match |
| 5. | 28 March 2009 | Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru | Peru | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification |
| 6. | 10 June 2009 | Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile | Bolivia | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification |
| 7. | 10 June 2009 | Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile | Bolivia | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification |
| 8. | 12 August 2009 | Brøndby Stadium, Brøndby, Denmark | Denmark | 1–2 | 1–2 | Friendly match |
| 9. | 26 May 2010 | Estadio Municipal de Calama, Calama, Chile | Zambia | 1–0 | 3–0 | Friendly match |
| 10. | 26 May 2010 | Estadio Municipal de Calama, Calama, Chile | Zambia | 2–0 | 3–0 | Friendly match |
| 11. | 30 May 2010 | Estadio Municipal de Concepción, Concepción, Chile | Israel | 2–0 | 3–0 | Friendly match |
| 12. | 17 November 2010 | Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile | Uruguay | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly match |
| 13. | 19 June 2011 | Estadio Monumental, Santiago, Chile | Estonia | 4–0 | 4–0 | Friendly match |
| 14. | 8 July 2011 | Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, Argentina | Uruguay | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2011 Copa América |
| 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 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 1 |
| Total | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 1 | |
| Career total | 205 | 46 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 254 | 51 | 12 | |
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.
Statistics accurate as of match played 26 November 2011[17][18][19]
| Chile national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2006 | 5 | 0 |
| 2007 | 4 | 1 |
| 2008 | 9 | 2 |
| 2009 | 9 | 5 |
| 2010 | 7 | 4 |
| 2011 | 8 | 2 |
| Total | 42 | 14 |
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 Dalaigue on his undershirt.
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