José Marcelo Salas Melinao (Latin American Spanish: [maɾˈselo ˈsalas]; born 24 December 1974), nicknamed Matador (due to his goalscoring celebrations), El Fenómeno and Shileno, is a Chilean former footballer who played as a striker. Salas is considered the best striker in the history of Chile. He stood out during the 1990s and 2000s in clubs such as Universidad de Chile, River Plate, Lazio and Juventus. He was the captain of the Chile national team and the top scorer – scoring 45 goals in total: 37 goals for the Chile national football team (4 in World Cups, 18 in World Cup qualification processes and 15 in friendlies) and 8 goals with the Chile Olympic football team.
He played in Chile, Argentina and Italy, winning titles with each club he joined.
The IFFHS ranked him as the 31st best South American player of the 20th century, the 19th best South American forward of the 20th century and the 3rd best South American forward of the 1990s (integrating the podium with Brazilians players Ronaldo and Romário). In 1997 he ranked 3rd as the "best centre forward in the world" (after players Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta) and he was ranked 5th in the "Best Centre Forward" category in the RSS Award for the best footballer of the year, in 1998 and 1999. He was also named the South American Footballer of the Year in 1997.
Salas was a forward known for his physical strength, work rate, technique, left-footed finishing, and aerial ability. He maintained a strong goalscoring record throughout his career and was regarded as one of the leading forwards in international football during the late 1990s and early 2000s, drawing comparisons with Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta.
Salas is considered one of the greatest players in the history of Universidad de Chile, an icon for the football team River Plate of Argentina, and one of the greatest foreign players in Lazio's history. He played for the Chile national football team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, where he scored four goals in four matches, leading his team to the second round of the competition. Additionally, Salas played for the Chile national football team at two Copa América tournaments, helping his team to reach fourth place in the 1999 edition of the tournament.
Currently, after his retirement as a football player, he has continued linked to the sport, being since May 2013 the president of Deportes Temuco (a club that on that date absorbed Unión Temuco, owned by him from 2008 to April 2013). The club is now in 2nd division of Chile, the Primera B.
Born in Temuco, Salas played for the Deportes Temuco youth team until his father took him to Santiago de Chile to be incorporated into the Universidad de Chile team.
Salas joined the Universidad de Chile team in 1993 and debuted on 4 January 1994 in a match against Cobreloa where he scored a goal. Finally, Salas was consolidated in the match against Colo Colo at the National Stadium, where he scored a Hat-trick in the 4–1 victory. His great performances quickly led the university fans to give him the nickname of "Matador" due to his cold blood when defining, also inspired by the song of the same name by the Argentine musical group Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, which at that time was fashionable in Latin America. It was also at this time that he patented his particular way of celebrating goals: he put one leg down, bowed his head, stretched his right arm and pointed his index finger towards the sky.
Salas helped the team win back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, he was an essential player for the Universidad de Chile team, as he was their top scorer in both seasons (27 goals in the first season and 17 goals in the second season). Leaving a trail of 76 goals which included a strong 1996 campaign in the Copa Libertadores.
Later in 1996, Salas moved to Argentina to play in River Plate team of the Argentine first division of football. On 30 September 1996 he scored his first goal, in a match played against Boca Juniors at the La Bombonera stadium. In November, he made a late substitute appearance in the 1–0 defeat to Juventus in the 1996 Intercontinental Cup final. From 1996 to 1998 Salas scored 31 goals in 67 games, helping River to win the Torneo de Apertura 1996 (where he scored two goals in the 3–0 win over Vélez Sarsfield that made him champion), the Clausura 1997, the Apertura 1997 (scoring the title goal against Argentinos Juniors), and the 1997 Supercopa Libertadores, where he scored the 2 goals in the final against São Paulo that gave the millionaire club the cup. In addition, he was elected the Best Footballer of the season in Argentina and South American Footballer of the Year in 1997. These accomplishments would cement his legacy in Argentina as one of its greatest foreign born players earning the nickname, "El shileno (sic) Salas".
The Argentine team valued his transfer at US$30,000,000 as the English football club Manchester United (The coach Alex Ferguson wanted a player with the characteristics of Ronaldo and Marcelo Salas to replace the retirement of Eric Cantona, Ferguson traveled 14,000 miles to sign Salas, but River Plate refused to sell him.), in addition to great clubs from Italy and Spain for hiring him.
On 1 February 1998, thanks to his good performances both in Argentina and in the Chile national football team, he was sold to SS Lazio in Italy for US$20.5 million. becoming the highest transfer in history at that time, after Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Denilson (to Inter Milan from Italy, Barcelona and Betis from Spain, respectively).
Salas played in Italy for five years: three years with SS Lazio (1998–2001), a key catalyst in helping turn around a Lazio team that hadn't won a Scudetto since the 1973–1974 season. He made his debut for Lazio on 12 August 1998 against the UEFA Champions League champion, the Real Madrid of Spain, where he scored the second goal of his team, in the Teresa Herrera Trophy. His official debut was for the Supercoppa italiana where his team won the competition after winning 2–1 over Juventus FC, on 29 August 1998. With Salas in the team, successes in Italian football returned for the whole of the Italian capital, after 25 years. He scored his first goal for Serie A playing for Lazio a few days later against Inter Milan. With Lazio he won Serie A (being the team's top scorer with 12 goals), a Coppa Italia, two Supercoppa Italiana, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and a UEFA Super Cup, scoring the match's only goal in the latter, in a 1–0 win over Manchester United.
Salas quickly became an idol of the Lazio tifosi, who would dedicate songs to him. The most prominent being "Matador, Matador, che ce frega de Ronaldo noi c'avemo er Matador" (Matador, Matador, what do we care about Ronaldo if we have the Matador).
After rejecting offers of US$30,000,000 from important football club as: Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, Parma, AC Milan and Inter Milan. was in negotiations with Real Madrid to become, together with Zinedine Zidane, one of the two great "meringues" signings of 2001. However, the transfer failed, largely due to the exorbitant sum that the Spanish club had invested in the signing of Zidane. Finally, that same year he signed for Juventus, with the club paying €25,000,000 (US$28,500,000) for him, which at the time was the most expensive transfer of a Chilean player.
In 2001, he was transferred to Juventus for 55 billion lire (€28.5 million by fixed exchange rate; 22 billion lire cash plus Darko Kovačević). His stay in Turin was cut short due to a torn ACL in his right knee in a Serie A match against Bologna in October 2001. Salas endured one of the worst moments of his career at the club; he was hampered by injuries, including a further issue with his knee meniscus the following season. During his two seasons at the club, he was only able to take part in 31 games, scoring just four goals across all competitions, despite winning consecutive Serie A titles and the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana, providing an assist for Alessandro Del Piero's opening goal in the 2–1 victory over Parma in the latter competition. He scored his first goal for the club from a penalty in September 2001, the match-winning goal in a 3–2 comeback home win over Chievo in Serie A. In the Derby della Mole against cross-city rivals Torino the following month, however, he missed a potentially match-winning penalty as Torino came back from 3–0 to tie the match 3–3. His final goal for the club came from a penalty, in a 2–0 win against Reggina in December 2002, in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia.