Felipe Gutiérrez

Universidad Católica

Gutiérrez began his youth career at Everton de Viña del Mar in 2004. Four years later, after being scouted, he moved to Universidad Católica. He made his professional debut on 7 November 2009 at only 18 years of age, in a 4–1 win over Universidad de Concepción.

In the 2010 season, Gutiérrez marked his first goal for the club in Copa Chile in a 4–0 win against San Pedro de Atacama and scored his first league goal for the club, in a 4–1 win over O’Higgins on 31 July 2010. Gutiérrez then scored his second goal for the club in the last game of the season, in a 5–0 win over Everton. Later in the 2010 season, Gutiérrez won the Chilean championship with Universidad Católica and went to score two times in fifteen appearance.

In the Torneo Apertura, Gutiérrez started well in the tournament and made an impressive display, including scoring important goals against Colo-Colo twice in four encounters on 26 May 2011 and 16 October 2011. and Universidad de Chile on 15 May 2011. Later in the 2011 season, Gutiérrez scored ten goals in thirty–eight appearance in all competitions and he became runners-up in the championship with Universidad Católica, losing 4–1 in the final against Universidad de Chile, and won the Chilean Cup. He was also voted "revelation of the season" by readers of the Chilean edition of the El Grafico magazine. His performance attracted interests from La Liga side Málaga, where he could link up his compatriot Manager Manuel Pellegrini. However, Gutiérrez dismissed the move to Málaga.

In the 2012 Apertura, he became the club's top scorer with seven goals, including scoring two braces against Cobreloa and Cobresal.

FC Twente

In June 2012, Gutiérrez signed for FC Twente of the Eredivisie who paid a fee between U.S. $3.5 and 4 million to Universidad Catolica for 70% of the transfer rights.

Gutiérrez made his professional debut for the club on 2 August 2012 in the third qualifying round of the Europa League against FK Mlada Boleslav, being substituted on in the 73th minute. A week later on 14 August 2012, Gutiérrez made his league debut for the club, in the opening game of the season, coming on as a substitute in the 84th minutes, in a 4–1 win over Groningen. He scored his first goal for Twente on 30 August 2012 in a Europa League play-off match against Bursaspor in a 4–1 win, helping the Dutch team qualify for the group stage. On 15 September 2012, Gutiérrez scored his first Twente goal, in a 6–2 win over Willem II. During a match against Hannover 96 in the Europa League, Gutiérrez suffered a knee injury and after the match, it was announced that he would be out for two months. After making his return from injury against Feyenoord on 27 January 2013, Gutiérrez scored his second league goal for the club on 28 April 2013, in a 5–2 win over NEC. Gutiérrez then scored two times against Groningen in both legs of the plays–off, which Twente won 4–3 on aggregate. Despite this, Gutiérrez finished his first season at Twente, making forty–three appearance and scoring six times in all competitions.

In the 2013–14 season, Gutiérrez began to establish himself in the first team and then scored his first goal for the club on 14 December 2013, in a 3–1 win over Go Ahead Eagles. Gutiérrez then scored two goals in two matches between on 2 April 2014 and 5 April 2014 against ADO Den Haag and NAC Breda. For his performance against NAC Breda, Gutiérrez was named Team of the Week by Algemeen Dagblad. Gutiérrez appeared in thirty–three matches and scoring three times in the 2013–14 season, but missed one game, due to squad rotation. Gutiérrez’s performance was a standout that Algemeen Dagblad named him as a favourite to win the Most Valuable Player of the Eredivisie. Eventually, Gutiérrez went to win the award.

However, in the 2014–15 season, Gutiérrez missed most of the season following the conclusion of the World Cup with a knee injury. The knee injury kept him sidelined until January and the club received compensation from the FIFA Club Protection Programme. While on the sidelined, Gutiérrez had an operation in Spain and found himself in a difficult situation following the death of his friend and his grandfather. By March, Gutiérrez made his return to training for the time in nine months and made his first appearance on 4 April 2015, coming on as a substitute for Kyle Ebecilio, in a 5–0 loss against PSV Eindhoven. Since making his return to the first team, Gutiérrez went on to make five appearance for the club.

Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Twente faced a major uncertainty when they faced consequences of financial problems and faced cuts along the way. Despite this, Gutiérrez, once again, became a first team regular following his return from injury. Gutiérrez then scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–2 draw against Ajax on 12 September 2015. Following Hakim Ziyech’s departure to Ajax in the January transfer window, Gutiérrez was appointed as the new club captain and appeared as a captain in the first match on 15 January 2016, where he set up one of the goals, in a 4–0 win over Heracles Almelo. Gutiérrez scored his second goal of the season on 31 January 2016, in a 3–1 win over Utrecht. However, as the season progressed, Gutiérrez missed four matches between 10 April 2016 and 1 May 2016, due to his wife giving birth and a knee injury, which expected him to be out for the rest of the season. However, on the last game of the season, he made his return on the last game of the season, in a 2–2 against Vitesse. Gutiérrez finished the 2015–16 season, making twenty–nine appearance and scoring two times.

Betis

In May 2016, Spanish newspaper El Desmarque claimed that newly promoted La Liga side Real Betis interested signing Gutiérrez. Despite a knee injury setback, the medical went ahead and it was announced on 6 July 2016, Gutiérrez signed a four-year deal with Real Betis.

Gutiérrez made his Real Betis debut, where he played 55 minutes before being substituted, in a 6–2 loss against Barcelona in the opening game of the season.

International career

Due to his impressive display at Universidad Católica, Gutiérrez made his Chile debut on 30 May 2010, where he came on as a late substitute, in a 1–0 win over Northern Ireland. Gutiérrez then scored his first Chile goal after coming on as a substitute in the 75th minutes, in a 2–1 loss against Argentina on 17 October 2012.

Gutiérrez was included in three major tournament for Chile: he was called up into the squad for the Copa América and appeared four times on the substitute bench. Prior to his successful call–up in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Gutiérrez suffered a knee injury in training that required examination and putting his World Cup place in doubt. It turns out that Gutiérrez was given an all-clear, regarding to his injury and expected to be in the World Cup squad for Chile. Gutiérrez made his first World Cup appearance against Australia, where he came on as a substitute for Arturo Vidal in the 60th minutes, in a 3–1 win on 13 June 2014. Gutiérrez then made his first World Cup on the last game of the group–stage, in a 2–0 loss against Netherlands. Gutiérrez played four times in the World Cup, as Chile progressed through the Group Stage, but was eliminated by Brazil in the round of 16.

Despite missing out most of the 2014–15 season with a knee injury, Gutiérrez was included in the Chile squad for the Copa América. Up until then, Gutiérrez was on the substitute bench in the first four matches of the tournament and appeared once in the semi–final of the Copa América when he came on as a substitute for Jorge Valdivia in the 86th minutes, in a 1–0 win over Peru on 30 June 2015. Despite this, Chile went on to win their first Copa América.

Two months after the conclusion of the Copa América, Gutiérrez scored his first Chile goals in two years, in a 3–2 win over Paraguay on 6 September 2014. However, because of his knee injury, Gutiérrez was left out of the squad for the Copa América Centenario, but Chile went on to win the Copa América Centenario.

International goals

Personal life

Born in Quintero, Chile, Gutiérrez grew up with six–half sisters, which three of them came from his father side and the three other came from his mother side. Because of Pinochet, his father fled to live in Netherlands, and two of his half–sisters from his father side continued to live there. Gutiérrez has an older brother, Orlando Gutiérrez, who also a footballer. However, unlike Felipe, Orlando have so far spent most of his career, playing for clubs in Chile.

Gutiérrez speaks Spanish and upon moving to Twente, he began learning Dutch, having stated he had been taking Dutch lessons twice a week. Gutiérrez also has a wife, Carla, and a son, Matias. In April 2016, Gutiérrez became a father for a second time when his wife gave birth to a son.

Gutiérrez has a school named after him in the city of Lautaro.

Club

International

Individual