Roberto Palacios

Roberto Carlos Palacios Mestas (born 28 December 1972) is a Peruvian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Palacios is Peru's record cap holder and played most of his career for Sporting Cristal, which was the team he started his career and later retired with at the end of the 2011 season.

Roberto Palacios grew up in the Chorrillos District in Lima. Palacios was introduced to soccer at an early age by his soccer-loving dad, and he played on regional teams in his early years ^{[citation needed]}.

Palacios became a player of Sporting Cristal, where he played in his youth. Palacios made his debut with Sporting Cristal in 1991, when his team faced Deportivo Municipal in late October 1991. Palacios then scored his first goal in the following week against Universitario de Deportes. Palacios was a successful player, and scored many goals for both his clubs and the National Team.

He is nicknamed "El Chorrillano" or "Chorri". He was regarded, at his peak, by some as one of the best Peruvian players of the 90's. In Peru, Palacios has only played for one club, Sporting Cristal. Outside of Peru he has played for several clubs such as Puebla F.C. (Mexico), Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (Brazil), Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (Mexico), Monarcas Morelia (Mexico), Deportivo Cali (Colombia) and Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito from Ecuador. While playing for LDU Quito, "Chorri" was involved in a fight^[1] and got suspended. This was caused because he scored a chalaca goal.

"Chorri" was well known for his amazing 'chorrigolazos' (for his ability to surprise top goalkeepers by scoring from far away despite his small size) which nearly took Peru to the last 3 FIFA World Cups. Palacios had a long run with the Peru national football team that resulted in a record 128 caps and 19 goals for his country. He retired from the Peruvian National squad on May 25, 2012.

Roberto Palacios and his father were part of the Million Man March.

Palacios is also a children's activist. He frequently works with UNICEF to help feed the poor children of Africa, and sometimes even by flying over and donating football gear and accessories. He recently donated a fair share of money to the UNEP to help the people of Haiti in the wake of the tragic 2010 earthquake.

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[2]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Peru	1992	1	0
	1993	12	1
	1994	7	1
	1995	8	1
	1996	12	6
	1997	16	3
	1998	2	0
	1999	11	2
	2000	14	4
	2001	9	0
	2003	8	0
	2004	13	1
	2005	4	0
	2006	3	0
	2007	2	0
	2009	5	0
	2012	1	0
Total		128	19

Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Palacios goal.

List of international goals scored by Roberto Palacios

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	22 August 1993	Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Argentina	1–2	1–2	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification	[3]
2	17 August 1994	Lima, Peru	Ecuador	–	2–0	Friendly	[4]
3	7 July 1995	Estadio Atilio Paiva Olivera, Rivera, Uruguay	Colombia	1–1	1–1	1995 Copa América	[5]
4	24 April 1996	Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo, Guayaquil, Ecaudor	Ecuador	1–1	1–4	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification	[6]
5	20 June 1996	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Armenia	3–0	4–0	Friendly	[7]
6	14 August 1996	Estadio de la UNSA, Arequipa, Peru	Costa Rica	2–0	3–0	Friendly	[8]
7	16 October 1996	Lima, Peru	United States	1–0	4–1	Friendly	[9]
8	10 November 1996	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Venezuela	3–0	4–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification	[10]
9				4–1
10	12 January 1997	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Chile	2–0	2–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification	[11]
11	2 April 1997	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Ecuador	1–0	1–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification	[12]
12	10 September 1997	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Uruguay	1–1	2–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification	[13]
13	10 July 1999	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraugay	Mexico	1–0	3–3	1999 Copa América	[14]
14	17 November 1999	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Slovakia	1–1	2–1	Friendly	[15]
15	19 February 2000	Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States	Honduras	4–1	5–3	2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup	[16]
16	23 February 2000	San Diego Stadium, San Diego, United States	Colombia	1–2	1–2	2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup	[17]
17	29 March 2000	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Paraguay	2–0	2–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification	[18]
18	16 August 2000	National Stadium of Peru, Lima, Peru	Venezuela	1–0	1–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification	[19]
19	6 July 2004	Estadio Monumental, Lima, Peru	Bolivia	2–2	2–2	2004 Copa América	[20]

Sporting Cristal

• Primera División Peruana: 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996

LDU Quito

• Serie A de Ecuador: 2005

Peru

• Kirin Cup: 1999

Individual

• Peruvian Player on the Year: 1994, 1995, 1996

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps

• Roberto Palacios at National-Football-Teams.com
• Roberto Palacios at rsssf
• Roberto Palacios Archived 2006-12-17 at the Wayback Machine at delgol.com (in Spanish)