Alexis Sanchez

Alexis is Arsenal's star man!

Arsenal have had a very good week, both in the Premier League and Champions League. A 5-1 away win at West Ham moved Arsenal up to second-place in the Premier League and a 4-1 away win at Basle, in Switzerland, meant Arsenal finished above Paris St. Germain in their Champions League group. Alexis Sanchez was a key player in both games. Against West Ham, he scored a hat-trick and all three goals were excellent. For his first goal, and Arsenal's second, Sanchez ran into the box and hit a great shot past West Ham's keeper. His second was a precise strike into the corner of the net and his third was a great little chip over the goalkeeper. In the Champions League, Sanchez's teammate, Lucas Perez, took the headlines with a hat-trick of his own, but Sanchez was again in fantastic form and his pass to release Mesut Ozil, which led to Arsenal's fourth goal, was amazing.

Alexis Sanchez can always give you something special. You don't find many players like him.  Arsene Wenger, Arsenal manager.

What do we know about Alexis Sanchez?

Alexis Alejandro Sanchez Sanchez was born in December 1988, and is from a small city called Tocapilla in the North East of Chile. His first major club was Cobreloa in Chile. After only 1 season with Cobreloa, Italian club, Udinese bought him and sent him on loan to top Chilean club, Colo-Colo, where he won the Chilean Championship. The following season, he was sent out on loan again, this time to Argentinian giants, River Plate. Again he helped his team win the league. In 2008, Sanchez moved to Italy and had three successful seasons with Udinese before moving to Spain to play for FC Barcelona. During his 3 seasons with Barcelona, Sanchez won 6 Spanish and international trophies and scored 39 La Liga goals in only 88 appearances. One of the highlights of his time with the Catalan team was scoring the winner against Real Madrid (2-1) in October 2013.

What has Alexis won with his national team?

Alexis Sanchez became the youngest ever player to represent Chile when he made his international debut, in 2006, against New Zealand when he was just 17 years old. He now has 106 caps for Chile and has scored 36 goals in international football. Sanchez has played in two World Cups for Chile but it is in the Copa America where he has found the most success. Sanchez scored the winning penalty in a penalty shootout in the final of the 2015 Copa America against Argentina. It was the first time that Chile had won a major international tournament and it was even sweeter that they did it while hosting the tournament. In 2016, Chile successfully defended their title as they won the Copa America again. They beat Argentina in the final, again, and it was in another penalty shootout! Sanchez was named the tournament's best player. In September 2016, Sanchez was named captain of the Chilean national team.

Did you know these facts about Alexis Sanchez?

Here are some more facts about Alexis Sanchez: 

• Alexis Sanchez was the second player from Chile to score a goal in an FA Cup final. George Robledo scored for Newcastle in 1952!
• Sanchez never goes anywhere without his two dogs called Atom and Humber. He takes them on holiday and has even taken them to training!
• Sanchez is normally known by his first name, Alexis, which you will see on the back of his shirt.
• Alexis was the youngest-ever Chilean international, he was just 17 years old.
• His first club, Cobreloa, is based in Calama, one of the world's driest cities, with only about 8 cms of rain per year!

There was a lot of football vocabulary in this article. Try the quiz below and test your understanding of football vocabulary. You can find all the answers in bold in the text above.

What do you think?

Alexis Sanchez is playing brilliantly at the moment. Is he the best player in the Premier League?

Sanchez and Mesut Ozil play well together for Arsenal. Does this pair have the best understanding in the Premier League?

What can Arsenal win this season? The Premier League? The Champions League?

Take another look at the football English in the article (the words in bold). Were any of these words new for you? Can you try to use some of them in the comments section below?