Alexis Sánchez

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.

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.

Udinese

Sánchez made his international debut for his national team against Sweden in 2006 and scored his first goal against Switzerland in a 2–1 loss, being also the first goal of the Marcelo Bielsa era. During the period of Bielsa, he was the top-scorer of Chile with 12 goals surpassing to Humberto Suazo with 11 goals.

After participating for Chile in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sánchez began to live an intense process of adaptation that consecrated him in Udinese with very good performances for the club, because of this, Sánchez also attracted the interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Zenit St. Petersburg, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Juventus, F.C. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea.

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.

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. 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 certain bonuses) with Udinese for the transfer of Sánchez, thus becoming the first Chilean to ever play for the club."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." The transfer was finalised five days later when he passed a medical and signed a five-year contract. "I want to learn from players like Messi and Xavi—and I want to help the club win more titles," said Sánchez.

He made his debut against arch rivals Real Madrid. He scored his first goal in his first La Liga match against Villarreal C.F 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 and will be out for approximately eight weeks.

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 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.