Marcelo Díaz

Early years

Díaz began his career in Universidad de Chile youth academy, being immediately accepted by Jorge Cabrera, then coach of the club's lower divisions. He played in the Club Julio Covarrubias of Padre Hurtado before arriving to Universidad de Chile, with Díaz saying that he felt kind of lucky for being accepted in the club, because he was a very low profile player.^[4] He progressed over all categories in the lower divisions, mainly acting as a playmaker.^[5] He was promoted to the first team in 2004 at the age of 18, but he was only called to three matches and not debuted in any of them.^[6] The next season, Díaz made his professional debut in a 3–2 loss with Everton for the first week of the 2005 Apertura Tournament. In the 2006 season, he played 29 matches between the Apertura and the Clausura Tournament.

After the one season, in the Apertura Tournament 2008, Díaz was a frequently starter in the squad of Arturo Salah, and scored his first professional goal with the club on 23 March, in a 3–2 loss with Huachipato,^[7] it was his first goal for Universidad de Chile. During the year he played 36 games between the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. After of the departure of Arturo Salah and the arrival of the Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarián, Díaz was used as a left back, unlike Salah that used him as an attacking midfielder. On 28 January 2009, he scored his first international goal in a 1–0 home victory to Pachuca.^[8] In the first semester of the season he won his first professional title, the Apertura Tournament, that his club won after beating 1–0 Unión Española in the playoffs final.^[9] The next season, now with the arrival of Gerardo Pelusso as the coach, Díaz was being used as right back and only played five league games.^[10]

On 13 August 2010, the player confirmed his incorporation to Deportes La Serena.^[11][12] There, he returned to the midfield, being deployed as an attacking midfielder. On 22 August, Díaz debuted in a 4–0 home win over Santiago Wanderers at La Portada Stadium. In his third match for the club against Audax Italiano, he scored his side's goal in a 2–1 defeat in the 86th minute. On 3 October, Díaz scored a brace in a 3–3 draw with Everton, being red carded in the 91st minute. After a one match absence, and his return in the game against Unión Española, he again scored his side's goal in a 2–1 away defeat with Universidad Católica. On 28 November, Díaz had a successful performance against Cobresal, being named the man-of-the-match and scoring a goal in a 2–0 win. Having finished the 2010 season, Díaz had a deal with Huachipato for a loan, but Universidad de Chile's new coach Jorge Sampaoli wanted him to play for his team in 2011 and the player remained in the club.^[13]

Breakthrough seasons

Díaz began the season as a substitute player replacing to Guillermo Marino in all second halves of a game, but due to his good performances, he ended up replacing Marino on the starting lineup. On 4 June 2011, he scored a wonderful 26-yard free-kick versus O'Higgins, in Universidad de Chile's amazing 7–1 rout for the playoff's semi-final.^[14][15] Following the title obtained in the Apertura Tournament and the departure of Felipe Seymour to Italian Serie A side Genoa,^[16] Díaz started to play in Seymour's former position in the starting lineup as a central midfielder, with a more defensive role.

When the Clausura Tournament began, former Universidad de Chile midfielder Manuel Iturra was heavy linked with the club, to replace to Seymour, but Sampaoli decided finally against Iturra and for Díaz, who with the given confidence stepped up his game and became one of the key players of the team. His great performances in the local tournament and in the 2011 Copa Sudamericana caught the eye of national team's coach Claudio Borghi to play in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. On 19 October, Díaz played in the Copa Sudamericana's round of 16 match against Flamengo. In that match, Universidad de Chile historically beat 4–0 as visitors,^{[17][18][19][20]} something never done by a Chilean team. In the second leg match, Díaz scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win at Estadio Nacional, winning the man of the match award.^[21][22] The next game of his club against the rivals, Colo-Colo, and he again was the man of the match in a 2–2 away draw.^[23] In that same match, Díaz was punished by the Anfp for obscene gestures to the Garra Blanca, the barra brava of Colo-Colo.^[24][25] After his performances, he was called up by Borghi for play against the Uruguay national football team at Centenario Stadium for the World Cup qualifiers.^[26] On 23 November, for the semi-finals of the Copa Sudamericana against Vasco da Gama, Díaz played in a 1–1 away draw at São Januário Stadium. He played an important role in the match, winning important balls in the middle of the pitch and assisting Osvaldo González, with a free kick to score the equalizing goal in the 79th minute.^[27] In the second leg game against the Brazilians, Díaz was named once again the man of the match in a 2–0 win.^[28] In the next game against LDU Quito for the first leg final, he made another assist to Eduardo Vargas, who scored the only goal of game.^[29] On 14 December, in the final of the tournament, Díaz played a good role in a 3–0 win over LDU, being crowned as the best champion of this tournament. According to the South American media, they compared to Universidad de Chile with Barcelona and Díaz with Xavi.^[30][31][32] Winning the Clausura Tournament,^[33] Universidad de Chile made a successful season earning three titles in one year, with Díaz as one of the key players of the season along with Johnny Herrera, Eduardo Vargas, Marcos González and José Rojas.

On 4 January 2012, the club received a US$1.5 million bid of Argentine Primera División side Newell's Old Boys for Díaz, but the same player rejected the deal, to play the Copa Libertadores, being also retained with pay rise of part of directive. He was candidate for be the club's captain, with the departures of José Rojas and Marcos González to the Brazilian Série A, but finally with the return of Rojas to the club because of problems with his new contract, Pepe remained as captain. Díaz started the season of fine form scoring a penalty goal in a 3–1 win over his old club Deportes La Serena in the first game of Universidad de Chile at the Apertura Tournament. On 25 February, he missed a penalty kick against O'Higgins in a 3–0 loss, that was saved by the adversary's keeper Luis Marín for the fifth week of the Apertura. On 10 March, he played a great match giving two notable assists in a 6–0 thrashing over Audax Italiano, then being called up by Borghi to the national team for play the Copa del Pacífico against Peru at Arica and Tacna. On 4 April, he was named the man of the match in a Libertadores 1–0 victory over Godoy Cruz at Mendoza, making another excellent match for his team on 29 April in the Chilean derby against Colo-Colo, in where he scored the first goal of the game and also made three assists, after a successful free kick in a 5–0 home win at the Estadio Nacional. On 9 May, was confirmed that Díaz was sold to Swiss Super League side Basel for $4 million. On 11 May, he scored a 30-yard goal in a 6–0 rout over Deportivo Quito for the Libertadores.

2015 Copa América

Díaz started all six matches in the 2015 Copa América, helping Chile win in a penalty shootout against Argentina, to win their first major international honor.^[63] For his performances he was named in the Team of the tournament.^[2]