Matías Fernández

Matías Fernández (born on May 15, 1986, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a Chilean football player, who currently plays for Spanish club Villarreal CF. He is also known by several nicknames such as Mati, El Pelusa, and Matigol.

Fernández is an attacking midfielder, a playmaker and a free kick specialist. He can also play as a striker or centre forward, if required. Before leaving to Villarreal CF he was awarded the South American Footballer of the Year 2006 for his campaign with Chilean club Colo-Colo.

Early life

Born in the Caballito, Buenos Aires neighbourhood in Buenos Aires to Argentine mother Mirtha and Chilean father Humberto, they moved when Matías was four to La Calera, Chile. Fernández had been referred to as a young Maradona by a neighbour after watching a game of his. Fernández has two brothers, Ezequiel and Nazareno. Fernández says he considers himself Chilean since he moved to Chile at age 4 and doesn't remember anything from those first four years of his life.

Colo-Colo

He began with the youth squads of Colo-Colo at the age of 12. His debut in first division came on August 1, 2004, against archrival Universidad de Chile (football club). A week later he scored his first two goals against Club Deportes Cobresal. In the same season, "Matigol" scored a spectacular goal against Club Deportivo O'Higgins, which immortalized him to fans. He would go on to score a total of eight goals in Clausura tournament of 2004, and was named best young player of the season. In the 2006 Apertura tournament, Fernández helped Colo-Colo capture their 24th title. In December of the same year he helped Colo-Colo reach the final of the Copa Sudamericana 2006,where they lost to CF Pachuca of Mexico, scoring nine goals in six games for the tournament.
He left Colo-Colo on a high note winning the 2006 Clausura tournament and he was named the South American Footballer of the Year.

International

Fernández captained the Chilean team at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship for Chile national under-20 football team scoring a goal in the 7-0 victory over Honduras even though he was powerless when Chile lost 0-7 to Spain. Despite that defeat, the team managed to pass to the next round by finishing as one of the top third place teams. Subsequently they lost to Netherlands and were eliminated from the competition. Even though the team left the tournament quickly, Fernández impressed with his play on the field alongside Nicolas Canales, Carlos Villanueva, and Jose Pedro Fuenzalida.

Fernández has represented the Chile national football team at the chile national under-17 football team, chile national under-20 football team, and adult levels. He played in Chile's last game of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) schedule, replacing Antonio Luis Jiménez. He has scored three goals with the adult squad, two against Peru and one against Venezuela. He wore number 14 in Colo-Colo and the U-17 and U-20 national teams, when playing for the adult national team he has worn numbers 8, 10 and 14, in Villarreal he wears number 21. He currentlys wears 14 in Villarreal CFV
He has been selected for the Chile squad in the 2007 Copa America.

Villarreal CF

On October 18, 2006, Fernández was signed by Spanish side Villarreal CF for a fee of 8.7m euros to give Villarreal a more offensive flair. The transaction was made before he received the "Best American Player of the Year" award (which explains the lower price of his fee). Despite reports that Real Madrid and Chelsea F.C. were also interested, he agreed to terms with Villarreal and arrived at Valencia airport on December 27, 2006. He debuted in January 7, 2007, against Valencia CF. Villarreal's coach, Manuel Pellegrini, is also Chilean. So far he has not attained the same level he had playing for Colo Colo due to an exhaustive season. Mati Fernandez has not been able to enjoy any vacations what so ever since December 2005, end of 2005 U-20 World Cup. This has caused a degenerative exhaustion, thus not enabling hime to recover his amazing football. He has a buyout clause of 50 million Euros.

Personal

Off the field, "El Pelusa" is a laid-back, shy person, who likes to play Playstation and listen to tropical music. Fernández is a family man, who is fully focused on playing football (soccer). He likes to lead his team on the field by example. He is known for his free kicks, powerful shots, great vision, and magnificent ball handling. He has been compared to fellow Chilean David Pizarro and Argentina Sergio Agüero (from Atletico Madrid) and Lionel Messi (from FC Barcelona).

Achievements

Chilean Apertura 2006 (Colo-Colo)

Chilean Clausura 2006 (Colo-Colo)

South American Footballer of the Year - 2006 (El Pais - Uruguay)