Rodrigo Sebastián Palacio Alcalde (; born 5 February 1982) is a former professional footballer who played as a second striker. He is the son of José Ramón Palacio, a historic player of Club Olimpo during the 1980s. Palacio holds a Spanish passport, allowing him to be counted as an EU player.
At international level, Palacio has represented the Argentina national team at two FIFA World Cups and a Copa América, winning runner-up medals at the 2014 World Cup and the 2007 Copa América.
Beyond his qualities as a footballer, Palacio is also known for his rattail braid hairstyle.
Club career
Early career At age 12, he joined Bella Vista de Bahía Blanca's youth academy, and made his first team debut aged 19 in 2001, in a Torneo Argentino B (fourth division) match.
Palacio began his professional career as a 20 year old in 2002, when he signed for Huracán de Tres Arroyos of the Primera B Nacional (second division).
He made his debut on 25 August 2002, in a 2–0 victory against Juventud Antoniana. Palacio played two years for the club, and left in 2004.
Banfield In 2004, Primera División club Banfield signed Palacio. He spent two seasons at the club, scoring 11 goals in 38 appearances.
In August 2004, he played his first match in a continental competition and scored in a 1–1 draw against Arsenal de Sarandí as part of the 2004 Copa Sudamericana. He scored in the second leg as well, but Banfield lost the match 4–3 and were eliminated.
Boca Juniors
In January 2005, Palacio completed a transfer to Boca Juniors shortly before the 2005 Clausura began. He scored his first goal for the club on 18 January, in a 2–0 victory against Independiente.
In the 2005 Copa Sudamericana, Palacio scored a hat trick in the quarter finals against Sport Club Internacional on 10 November 2005, which ended in a 4–1 for CABJ. He also scored the opening goal in the first leg of the finals against Pumas UNAM, contributing greatly to Boca's championship, which was eventually won on penalties. Palacio was the third top scorer with 5 goals, behind Bruno Marioni and Jorge Quinteros.
In the 2006 Recopa Sudamericana, Palacio scored two goals in the first leg and one in the second leg to help Boca beat São Paulo and win their third Recopa. On 26 April 2007, Palacio scored two goals in a 7–0 demolishing of Club Bolívar in the 2007 Copa Libertadores. On 24 May, he scored the last goal in a 2–0 win over Club Libertad in the quarter-finals. Palacio also scored the opening goal of the finals 1st leg against Grêmio, which ended in a 5–0 aggregate win for Boca (2–0 and 3–0). On 16 December, he would score an equalizer to make the score 1–1 against Milan, although the Italian side eventually won the Club World Cup final 4–2. Palacio earned the Bronze Ball trophy in the tournament, being ranked as the third best player behind Milan players Clarence Seedorf and Kaká respectively. Palacio's performance in the 2008 Copa Libertadores helped Boca avoid elimination from the group stage by scoring twice against Mexico's Atlas in a 3–0 home victory and scoring the third goal in Boca's dramatic 4–3 win against Chile's Colo-Colo. On 7 May 2008, Palacio scored the first goal in a 2–1 second-leg win against Brazilian club Cruzeiro. Boca eventually reached the semi-finals, where they would lose to Fluminense 4–1 on aggregate. Despite a minor injury that would see him sidelined for a small portion of the second half of the year, Palacio would then go on to win the Recopa Sudamericana against Arsenal de Sarandí, scoring one goal in the first leg and another goal in the second leg. He later won the 2008–09 Torneo Apertura after the title had to be fought out between the top three teams that were equal on points, Boca, San Lorenzo and Tigre. The championship play-offs were all held at Racing Club's stadium in a round-robin format and were held in December 2008. Palacio would score in a 3–1 win against San Lorenzo to help claim the title.
Genoa In July 2009, Palacio signed a contract with Italian club Genoa. His debut in Serie A was on 23 August, in a 3–2 win over Roma. On 5 November, he scored his first goal for the club in the UEFA Europa League match against Lille, which ended in a 3–2 victory for Genoa. In Serie A, the striker scored his first goal against Parma, the team in which he also scored a double against in the return leg, a 3–2 away win. 2 years after his debut, Palacio also entered in Coppa Italia statistics with a brace in a 4–3 win against AG Nocerina. In the last two weeks of January 2012, Palacio scored two braces: one in a 5–3 loss against Palermo, and the other in a 3–2 win against Napoli. On his last appearance for Genoa, the hundredth overall, he received a red card against Udinese.
Inter Milan On 22 May 2012, Genoa president Enrico Preziosi confirmed that Palacio would join Inter for the 2012–13 season. On 7 June, he was officially sold to Inter for €10.5 million, signing a three-year contract paying the player €2.7 million per year.
2012–13 season
Palacio debuted in a UEFA Europa League qualification match against Croatian side Hajduk Split. He scored his first Inter double in a friendly against Bizertin of Tunisia on 18 August. He then scored his first official goal for Inter on 23 August in the play-off round of Europa League qualifiers against Romania's Vaslui. He scored again in the return leg in Milan on 30 August, making the final score 1–1 as Inter progressed to the competition's group stage.
He scored his first goal in Serie A for Inter on 21 October in a 2–0 victory at the San Siro against Catania. On 4 November, he scored the final goal in a 1–3 win against defending league champions Juventus, which ended the Bianconeri's 49 game-winning streak. On 8 November, he scored a brace in a Europa League match against Partizan (1–3) that took Inter into the competition's round of 32 with two group stage matches to spare. During a second round match in the Coppa Italia against Hellas Verona on 18 December, after an injury to goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi and after all three of the club's substitutions were exhausted, Palacio, wearing Vid Belec's jersey number 27, was put into goal for the final 15 minutes of the match. He did not concede any goals in a 2–0 win and even made a fine save in the 91st minute, stopping a diving header from Verona midfielder Alessandro Carrozza.
On 14 February 2013, in a match against Romanian side CFR Cluj in the first leg of the Europa League Round of 16, Palacio was substituted in seven minutes into the game after a season-ending injury to starter Diego Milito. Palacio came on and finished the game with both goals scored in a 2–0 victory. On 3 March, against Catania, Palacio was substituted in at the beginning of the second half at a time when the Nerazzurri were down 2–0. Palacio went on to provide an assist for Ricky Álvarez's goal, then scored twice himself, leading Inter to a 2–3 comeback victory. On 3 April, Palacio scored his second double of the league season against Sampdoria, raising his tally to 12 goals scored; in the same game, however, he strained his left hamstring, ultimately ending his season prematurely.
2013–14 season In the first fixture of the season, Palacio scored a brace against Cittadella in the third round of the Coppa Italia.
He also scored in the first league game of the season, against Genoa on 25 August; his goal came in injury time, giving Inter a 2–0 win, which was followed by another goal and an assist in a 3–0 win against Catania. On 20 October, Palacio scored twice to give Inter a 3–3 draw against Torino at the Stadio Olimpico, and six days later scored in a 4–2 triumph against recently promoted Hellas Verona at San Siro. On 3 November, Palacio continued his fine form, scoring a header and assisting in a 0–3 away win against Udinese at the Stadio Friuli. On 22 December, he scored a superb goal in the 86th minute with the back of his heel after an assist from Fredy Guarín, which proved to be decisive with Inter winning 1–0 against Milan. That was his first competitive goal in the Derby della Madonnina.
On 15 February 2014, Palacio scored his first goal of 2014 after some negative displays during the 2–1 away win against Fiorentina. On 9 March, he scored the winning goal against Torino at the San Siro, giving Nerazzurri three important points. Five days later, Palacio signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract with Inter which will keep him at the club until 2016. One day after he extended his contract, Palacio scored the opening goal and assisted Jonathan Moreira's goal in the 2–0 away win against Hellas Verona. Palacio continued with his good appearances by scoring his 15th league goal in the 4–0 thrashing of Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. He also assisted both goals from Mauro Icardi.
On 10 May, in Javier Zanetti's last competitive match at the San Siro in which Inter defeated Lazio 4–1 to secure a place in Europa League play-off for next season, Palacio scored a brace and in both occasions went to celebrate with Zanetti. He was first assisted by Mateo Kovačić and later by Yuto Nagatomo. Palacio ended the 2013–14 season with 39 appearances (37 in Serie A) and 19 goals (17 in Serie A), finishing as Inter's top goalscorer.
2014–15 season Palacio missed all of the pre-season phase due to his international duties with Argentina at the 2014 World Cup. He was not called upon for the first official match of the season against Icelandic side Stjarnan in the first leg of the play-off round for the Europa League, after Inter head coach Walter Mazzarri decided to let him rest. He also did not play in the returning leg as Inter comfortably secured qualification for the group stage with an aggregate 9–0 score. After missing the opening match of the Serie A season, Palacio made his first appearance of the season on 14 September, playing the last 14 minutes of the 7–0 thrashing of Sassuolo.
On 19 February 2015, Palacio scored two goals in a 3–3 draw vs Celtic, which helped Inter qualify for the round of 16 of the Europa League. In the round of 16 against Wolfsburg, he scored both goals in Inter's 5–2 aggregate loss (3–1 and 2–1). He opened the scoring in the final game of the season, a 4–3 win against Empoli. Palacio finished behind Mauro Icardi for top scorer with 12 goals, scoring 8 in the league and 4 in the Europa League.
2015–16 season Palacio scored his first goal of the season on 15 December 2015 in a 3–0 win over Cagliari at the San Siro, moving Inter on from the Coppa Italia's round of 16. On 8 January 2016, he extended his contract with Inter for a further season, keeping him at the club until June 2017. He didn't score his first Serie A goal for the season until 24 January 2016, opening the scoring in a 1–1 draw against Carpi. On 2 March, in a Coppa Italia match against Juventus, Palacio missed a penalty, which contributed to Inter's elimination after tying 3–3 on aggregate and losing 3–5 on penalties. Over all it was a subpar season from him, scoring just 3 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions.
2016–17 season On 29 September 2016, he scored Inter's only goal in the 3–1 Europa League group stage defeat against Sparta Praha. He scored a goal against his future club Bologna to eliminate them from the Coppa Italia round of 16 with a 3–2 win on 17 January 2017. The Argentine forward played 20 games but only scored 2 goals that season; one in the Europa League, one in the Coppa Italia, and none in Serie A. With his contract lasting until the end of this season, he played his last game for Inter on 28 May 2017.
Bologna 2017–18 season On 17 August 2017, Palacio signed a one-year contract with Bologna.