Roberto Carlos Palacios Mestas (born 28 December 1972) is a Peruvian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Palacios is Peru's record cap holder and played most of his career for Sporting Cristal, which was the team he started his career and later retired with at the end of the 2011 season.
Roberto Palacios grew up in the Chorrillos District in Lima. Palacios was introduced to soccer at an early age by his soccer-loving dad, and he played on regional teams in his early years .
Palacios became a player of Sporting Cristal, where he played in his youth. Palacios made his debut with Sporting Cristal in 1991, when his team faced Deportivo Municipal in late October 1991. Palacios then scored his first goal in the following week against Universitario de Deportes. Palacios was a successful player, and scored many goals for both his clubs and the National Team.
He is nicknamed "El Chorrillano" or "Chorri". He was regarded, at his peak, by some as one of the best Peruvian players of the 90's. In Peru, Palacios has only played for one club, Sporting Cristal. Outside of Peru he has played for several clubs such as Puebla F.C. (Mexico), Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (Brazil), Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (Mexico), Monarcas Morelia (Mexico), Deportivo Cali (Colombia) and Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito from Ecuador. While playing for LDU Quito, "Chorri" was involved in a fight and got suspended. This was caused because he scored a chalaca goal.
"Chorri" was well known for his amazing 'chorrigolazos' (for his ability to surprise top goalkeepers by scoring from far away despite his small size) which nearly took Peru to the last 3 FIFA World Cups. Palacios had a long run with the Peru national football team that resulted in a record 128 caps and 19 goals for his country. He retired from the Peruvian National squad on May 25, 2012.
Roberto Palacios and his father were part of the Million Man March.
Palacios is also a children's activist. He frequently works with UNICEF to help feed the poor children of Africa, and sometimes even by flying over and donating football gear and accessories. He recently donated a fair share of money to the UNEP to help the people of Haiti in the wake of the tragic 2010 earthquake.
Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Palacios goal.
Primera División Peruana: 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996
Peruvian Player on the Year: 1994, 1995, 1996
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
Roberto Palacios at National-Football-Teams.com
Roberto Palacios Archived 2006-12-17 at the Wayback Machine at delgol.com (in Spanish)