Marcelo Danubio Zalayeta (; born 5 December 1978) is a Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a striker. At international level, Zalayeta represented the Uruguay national team on 32 occasions between 1997 and 2005, scoring ten goals. At youth level, he was a member of the team that finished second in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. At senior level, he helped Uruguay reach the 1999 Copa América final.
Zalayeta began his club career with Danubio before moving to Peñarol for a season in 1997, where he won the Uruguayan Primera División and the Uruguayan Liguilla Cup. Later that year, he was acquired by Italian club Juventus, where he remained for ten seasons, winning three Serie A titles and reaching the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final, although he was sent on several loan spells with Empoli, Spanish side Sevilla, and Perugia during his time at the Turin club due to heavy competition from other strikers in the team's line-up.
Zalayeta moved to Napoli in 2007, where he remained for three more seasons, aside from a loan spell with Bologna during the 2009–10 season. After his time in Italy, he later spent a season with Turkish side Kayserispor, before returning to his home nation to play for Peñarol once again, winning the Uruguayan Primera División for a second time in 2013, before retiring in 2016.
Club career
Zalayeta started his career with Danubio and then moving to Peñarol in Uruguay in 1997, where he made a name for himself, winning the Uruguayan Primera División and the Uruguayan Liguilla Cup. He moved to Juventus later that year. Although he was considered a promising young player at the time, he was not given much of a chance to prove himself due to heavy competition from several other prominent forwards at the club; however, he scored a decisive goal on his Serie A debut on 14 March 1998, in a 2–2 home draw against Napoli; Juventus would finish the season as league champions.
Zalayeta scored two very important extra-time winners against Spanish opposition upon his return to Juventus. One came in 2003 in the quarter-finals of UEFA Champions League against Barcelona, the other against Real Madrid in the 2005 round of 16. In the 2003 UEFA Champions League final, Zalayeta was one of the three Juventus players to have their penalty kick saved by Milan goalkeeper Dida in the shootout after a 0–0 draw, as Milan won the title.
After a decade with Juventus, Zalayeta moved to Napoli in the summer of 2007. Napoli paid €1.4 million for half of the rights (co-ownership). He played 49 Serie A matches and scored 12 goals in 2 seasons. At the start of 2009–10 season, he became surplus to the team and was not offered a shirt number. With the senior Uruguay national team, he took part at the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which Uruguay managed a fourth-place finish, and the 1999 Copa América, scoring three goals in five appearances in the latter tournament, as they reached the final of the competition, only to be defeated by Brazil. He was selected in a 23-man squad for Uruguay's 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification play-off against Australia on 16 November. Zalayeta was one of two penalty kick takers whose shots were saved by Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer. Zalayeta's failure to convert culminated in Australia winning the play-off 4–2 on penalties, qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, and eliminating Uruguay in the process. This was his final appearance for Uruguay. In total, he made 32 appearances for the national team between 1997 and 2005, scoring ten goals. He was nicknamed il panterone ("The Big Panther" in Italian) in the media throughout his career due to his movements and agility. In December 1999, Zalayeta and compatriot Sevilla teammates Nicolás Olivera and Marcelo Otero were charged for assaulting a man. Having struck a plea bargain, they paid €3,600 fines in March 2002 instead of facing a maximum eight-year sentence.
Career statistics
Interantional
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
|style="text-align:center"|2
|
|Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile
|
|style="text-align:center"|2–2
|style="text-align:center"|2–2
|Friendly
|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|3
|rowspan="2"|
|rowspan="2"|Estadio Feliciano Cáceres, Luque, Paraguay
|rowspan="2"|
|style="text-align:center"|1–0
|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|2–1
|rowspan="2"|1999 Copa América
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|4
|style="text-align:center"|2–0
|-
|style="text-align:center"|5
|
|Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay
|
|style="text-align:center"|1–1
|style="text-align:center"|1–1<br />
|1999 Copa América
|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|6
|
|Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay
|
|style="text-align:center"|2–0
|style="text-align:center"|2–0
|Friendly
|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|7
|
|Bonifika Stadium, Koper, Slovenia
|
|style="text-align:center"|2–0
|style="text-align:center"|2–0
|Friendly
|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|8
|rowspan="3"|
|rowspan="3"|Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay
|rowspan="3"|
|style="text-align:center"|1–0
|rowspan="3" style="text-align:center"|3–2
|rowspan="3"|2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
|rowspan="3"|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|9
|style="text-align:center"|2–0
|-
|style="text-align:center"|10
|style="text-align:center"|3–2
|}
Honours
Juventus