The goalkeeper’s career was full of finals. With Colo Colo he won and lost, in La Roja he played a fundamental role in obtaining the Copa América. His most rewarding and continuous moment was at Barcelona, but the titles at Manchester City were the same. Now with Real Betis, he rises to first place as the most successful Chilean in history, an honor he shares with Arturo Vidal.
Claudio Bravo’s career has been marked by definitions. In his first championship as a starter, the goalkeeper played in the 2003 Clausura final, wearing the Colo Colo jersey against Cobreloa. Although this first experience as a star was not the best for the goalkeeper, football would have many revenges.
With this Saturday, the captain of the Chilean national team adds 22 titles to his list. With the albos, he won two, one in 2002, as a substitute, and the other in 2006, as a figure in the penalty shoot-out in the final against the University of Chile. He then went to Real Sociedad, where he won the 2009/10 Spanish second division championship.
After an outstanding performance at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Claudio Bravo transferred to Barcelona, where he would experience his best days. Unbeaten record at club level and seven titles .
In the final, his performance against River Plate was remembered for the Club World Cup, where, despite his team winning 3-0, he had to score several goals. He also started in the 2016 Super Cup final, saving Sevilla’s Vicente Iborra from a penalty in the Blaugrana’s 3-0 win. During his stay in Catalonia he won several competitions, but with more importance in the leagues, since the knockout tournaments were usually played by Marc-André ter Stegen.
Quite the opposite would happen at Manchester City. Although he was taken as a starter, Bravo lost the job after an erratic 2016/17 season. From then on, he will play the English cups, which are not uncommon. In the 2018 Community Shield, he played all 90 minutes in Cityzen’s 2-0 win over Chelsea.
An Achilles tendon injury would wipe him out for almost a year, but he came back and played the same tournament. This time he was the hero, saving Georginio Wijnaldum’s penalty on penalties against Liverpool as his club won 5-4 in a shootout after drawing 1-1. Their last prize on British soil was the 2019/20 League Cup, where they beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the final. Claudio Bravo of course, he started in the final.
With his return to Spain and to a team with no tradition in terms of titles, many believed that at his age he would not continue to add trophies. However, the Chilean is one of the leaders of Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis and with obtaining the Copa del Rey he climbed to the top spot of the most successful national football players in history, a place he shares with Arturo Vidal.
hero in the red
Titles are not only at club level. Claudio Bravo was the starting goalkeeper and captain of the Red team in both Copa Américas. In both, in addition, he played all six games. Something different lived in the 2017 Confederations Cup, where he joined in the third game of the group stage.
In the tournament played in Chile , the Viluco native was preceded by a great season at Barcelona and put in a consistent performance from start to finish. In the final, he played a key role in the penalty shootout, saving Ever Banega’s shot.
A year later, the Centenary Continental Championship would not start in the best way for the goalkeeper. In the group stage, Chile qualified after losing to Argentina and beating Bolivia and Panama. In these three matches, the All Team team conceded five goals.
However, that hesitant start was put behind them with three brilliant appearances in the Round of 16. In the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, the team finished with a clean sheet. The final duel against Argentina has two Bravo-related postcards : the save on Agüero in extra time and the penalty saved on Lucas Biglia in the shootout.
The last final played with the Golden Generation was against Germany, for the aforementioned and extinct Confederations Cup. The national team finished second in the group, behind Germany and ahead of Cameroon and Australia. In the semi-finals, they eliminated Portugal, with a performance of anthology from Bravo, while the final was a narrow defeat.
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Source: Latercera
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
