Alexis Sánchez is a Chilean professional
footballer who represents the
Chile national team as a
striker. Nicknamed
El Niño Maravilla ("The Boy Wonder"), he made his debut for his country in a 1–0 victory over
New Zealand in April 2006. His first international goal came on his eighth appearance for Chile when he scored Chile's only goal in a 1–2 defeat to
Switzerland in a
friendly tournament in Vienna. As of June 2024, Sánchez is his country's top scorer and also has the most
caps, with 51 goals in 166 appearances. He passed the previous record of 37 goals, held by
Marcelo Salas, when he scored the opener against
Germany in the
group stage of the
2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in June 2017. Sánchez's most recent goal came against
Paraguay in a 3–2 friendly win. Despite Sánchez scoring seven goals, making him second-equal top scorer in
2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying (along with
Lionel Messi,
Gabriel Jesus and
Felipe Caicedo), Chile failed to qualify for the finals. Sánchez made his most recent and 166th appearance for Chile in a 0–0
Copa América draw against
Canada in June 2024.
As of June 2024, Sánchez has not scored an international hat-trick, but has scored twice in a match on ten occasions. Sánchez has scored more goals in friendlies than in any other format with 21, followed by FIFA World Cup qualifying matches with twenty. He has scored two goals in FIFA World Cup finals, seven in the Copa América and one in the Confederations Cup. He has scored more goals against Uruguay and Bolivia (six each) than any other nation, and more times at the Estadio Nacional de Chile (ten) than any other stadium.
Goals
- As of 27 March 2023
- Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.
Statistics
See also