Early life and career Alexis Sánchez

Alexis Sánchez

Early life and career

After an impressive season, on 21 April 2006 Sánchez caught the attention of Udinese who bought him for a US$3 million fee.[6] However, Udinese began a maturation project with Alexis and loaned him to Chilean powerhouse Colo-Colo in a season-long deal.
Loan spells
Sánchez playing for Colo-Colo
Alexis' first game for Colo-Colo was on 23 June 2006 in a 1–1 draw with Antofagasta and his first goal came during a Superclásico against Universidad de Chile in a 4–2 win played at Estadio Monumental on 29 October.[8] His strong performances allowed him break into the team's starting lineup after successfully challenging Mario Cáceres for the position of striker and began partnering Humberto Suazo in attack. On 1 November, he scored his first brace at Pedreros in a 4–4 draw with Deportes La Serena.
Sánchez won his first professional title in Colo-Colo after earn Torneo Apertura 2006, and also scored his first goal in an international contest after score in the 7–2 thrashing of LD Alajuelense for the Copa Sudamericana[10] (tournament that Colo-Colo failed to win after being defeated by Pachuca at Estadio Nacional).

After the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Sánchez was loaned to River Plate in 2007, winning the league title one year later.
Udinese

After a successful season in Argentina, Sánchez left South America in July 2008 to officially join Udinese, where he would meet 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.[12] 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.[citation needed]

In the following season, Sánchez played an important role for Udinese in Coppa Italia 2009–10, being a key player in the team that eliminated Milan, assisting Gökhan Inler for the winning goal.[13] 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.[14] By the end of this year, Sánchez scored a total of five goals (four at the end of tournament) in 32 appearances.
Along with his compatriot Mauricio Isla, playing for Udinese Calcio

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,[15] thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Iván Zamorano.

During his successful season at Udinese, 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.[16] Sánchez ranked 56th in the May 2011 edition of Castrol Performance Index and 24th among the forwards.
Barcelona
Sánchez (furthest left) celebrating with his Barcelona team mates after defeating Santos in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup Final

On 20 July 2011, FC Barcelona confirmed they had agreed a €26 million fee (plus €11.5m in certain bonuses) with Udinese for the transfer of Sánchez, thus becoming the first Chilean to ever play for the club.[17][18][19] "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."[18] The transfer was finalised five days later when he passed a medical and signed a five-year contract.[20][21] "I want to learn from players like Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernández—and I want to help the club win more titles," said Sánchez
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.[22] 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.[23] Sánchez returned on 1 November 2011 in an away match against Viktoria Plzeň.[24] On 10 December 2011, he scored Barcelona's equaliser against Real Madrid in a match 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.

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.[26] 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.[citation needed] 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 Clásico fixture of the 2013–14 La Liga season.[27] On 5 January 2014, Sánchez scored his first hat-trick for Barcelona in a 4–0 win against Elche CF.[28] He ended the 2013–14 season with a career best 21 goals in all competitions,[29] including 19 in La Liga.[30]
International career
Sánchez takes on Nacho Monreal of Spain in a friendly on 10 September 2013

Sánchez made his international debut for the Chile national team against New Zealand on 27 April 2006.[31] He was called up by the coach José Sulantay to represent the Chilean under-20 team at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Canada, where they finished third.[31]

After his participation in the youth championship, Sánchez scored his first senior international goal in a 2–1 loss against Switzerland on 7 September 2007. He scored three times during La Roja's successful 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign and appeared on every match during the tournament finals.[31] He then participated in the 2011 Copa América, scoring once in a 1–1 group stage draw with Uruguay.

Sánchez scored four times in Chile's qualification campaign for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[32]

On 15 November 2013, Sánchez scored both goals as Chile beat England 2–0 at Wembley Stadium, repeating the achievement of national team legend Marcelo Salas in 1998.
On 13 June 2014, Sánchez scored Chile's opening goal of the 2014 World Cup in a 3–1 defeat of Australia in Cuiabá.[34] During the round of 16, Sánchez scored the equalising goal in a 1–1 draw against the host Brazil. However, he was one of three Chileans to fail to convert their kicks in the penalty shootout, having his shot saved by Júlio César as the Seleção prevailed 3–2

العنوان : Early life and career Alexis Sánchez
الوصف : Alexis Sánchez Early life and career After an impressive season, on 21 April 2006 Sánchez caught the attention of Udinese who bought him for...
تقييم الموضوع : 4.5
الكاتب : غير معرف