Marcelo Salas

Salas played his farewell game on 2 June 2009. Amongst the invited players were his friends from the 1993–1996 Universidad de Chile squads, River Plate, Juventus, plus members of Chile's France '98 World Cup squad. More than 50,000 people showed up to pay him one final salute. Playing for both sides, he managed to score three goals.

Salas announced his retirement on 26 November 2008, at the age of 33.

On 18 November 2007, Salas scored his final goals for Chile during qualification for the 2010 World Cup, as la Roja drew 2–2 with Uruguay.

In late July 2005, it was confirmed that he would return to his original football team, Universidad de Chile on a temporary deal from Juventus, and the never-ending love of the fans of Universidad de Chile for Salas was evident. Although the press was tough on him for being an injury-prone player (Salas played just 10 games in 2005), he carried Universidad de Chile to the cup finals. The 2005 final was decided on a shootout, won by Universidad Católica. After retirement rumors flourished in the summer of 2006, Salas began campaign with Universidad de Chile and led the team to the final one more time, which saw Universidad de Chile dropping the title to archrivals Colo-Colo on penalties.

In 2003 Salas was loaned back to River Plate but was unable to regain his old form as he was still hampered by injuries. Constantly in and out of the lineup and only able to score 17 goals in 43 matches Salas considered retiring from football, but decided he would make one final push with River. His return would spark River to a semi-final appearance in the Copa Libertadores (Salas scoring a hat-trick en route) but they lost to eventual champions Sao-Paulo.

Due to his injury problems, Salas's appearances for Chile became limited after the 1999 Copa América. He scored four goals in nine appearances during the team's unsuccessful 2002 World Cup qualification campaign and during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers overtook Iván Zamorano as the nation's all-time top goalscorer with his 35th goal against Bolivia.

Salas played in Italy for five years, three with S.S. Lazio (1998–2001), a key catalyst in helping turn around a Lazio team that hadn't won a Scudetto since the 1973–1974 season. His first Serie A appearance was on 4 October 1998. He scored his first goal playing for Lazio a few days later against Inter. With Lazio he won an Italian cup, a Cup Winners' Cup and a European Super Cup, scoring the match's only goal in the latter, in a 1–0 win over Manchester United. In 2001, he was transferred to Juventus F.C. for 55 billion lire (€28.4 million by fixed exchange rate; 22 billion lire cash plus Darko Kovačević) where Salas would endure the worst moments of his career; he was hampered by injuries, allowing him to participate in only 14 games and scoring just 2 goals.

During the 1998 World Cup qualification campaign, Salas scored 11 times, including hat-tricks against Colombia and Peru, as the team qualified for the finals for the first time since 1982.

In the build up to the 1998 World Cup finals, Salas scored both goals as Chile beat England 2–0 in a friendly match at Wembley Stadium. At the tournament, Salas scored four times in four matches. His two goals against Italy gave la Roja a 2–2 draw with the 1994 runners-up. He scored a consolation goal as Chile were defeated 4–1 by Brazil in the second round.

He has played in Chile, Argentina and Italy, winning titles with each club with whom he has played, and was voted South American Footballer of the Year in 1997. A powerful and tenacious forward, with good technique, who was well-known for his deft touch with his left foot, as well as his aerial ability, Salas had a prolific goalscoring record throughout his career; with 37 goals in 70 international appearances between 1994 and 2007, he is the Chilean national team's second-highest goalscorer of all time, behind only Alexis Sánchez. He appeared for the Chilean national team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, where he scored four goals in four matches, leading his nation to the second round of the competition. As well as that World Cup, Salas played for Chile at two Copa América tournaments, helping his nation to a fourth-place finish in the 1999 edition of the tournament.

Later in 1996, Salas moved on to Argentina to play with River Plate of the Argentine first division, a move that was met with some criticism by the Argentine press as a Chile born player had never really had an impact playing in Argentina. The move was also criticised by Argentine great Diego Maradona as Salas was scouted by arch rival Boca Juniors prior to joining River. Salas quickly silenced his critics and won over Argentine fans, as a major contributor to one of the club's greatest runs ever. From 1996–1998 Salas scored 26 goals in 51 games, helping River to win the Torneo de Apertura 1996, the Clausura 1997, the Apertura 1997 and the 1997 Supercopa Sudamericana. These accomplishments would cement his legacy in Argentina as one of its greatest foreign born players earning the nickname, "El shileno (sic) Salas".

Salas made his debut playing for Universidad de Chile in 1993 and became a starter on 4 January 1994 against Cobreloa where he would also score a goal. Salas helped the team win back to back titles in 1994 and 1995 leaving a trail of 74 goals which included a strong 1996 campaign in the Copa Libertadores.

In 1994, Salas debuted for the Chile national football team as a 19-year-old, scoring his first international goal in a 3–3 draw with Argentina.

Is considered the "best striker in the history of Chile" and one of the best soccer players of all time in his country. He stood out during the decades of 1990s and 2000s in important clubs such as Universidad de Chile, River Plate , Lazio and Juventus. He was captain of the Chilean national team, being the top scorer with whom he scored 45 goals, 37 in absolute terms (4 in World Cups, 18 in World Cup qualification processes and 15 in friendlies) and 8 with the Olympic team.

José Marcelo Salas Melinao (American Spanish: [maɾˈselo ˈsalas] ; born 24 December 1974), dubbed as El Matador (due to his goalscoring celebrations), El Fenómeno, and Shileno, is a retired Chilean footballer who played as a striker.