Rodrigo Sebastián Palacio Alcalde (Spanish pronunciation: [roˈðɾiɣo paˈlasjo]; born 5 February 1982) is an Argentine professional basketball player and former footballer who played as a second striker.

[7][8] 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).

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.

[13] 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.

[14] 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.

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.

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.

[42] 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.

[45] 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.

[46] 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.

[57] 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.

[58] 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.

[65] 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 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.

[70][71] 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.

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.

[83] 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.

[87] A week later, he scored his first goal for the club in a 1–2 loss against Fiorentina at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, this was also the first time he played the full 90 minutes since his arrival in the summer.

[95] Palacio kicked off the season in the Coppa Italia, scoring the last goal in a 0–3 away win at AC Pisa on 18 August 2019.

[99] On 2 May 2021, Palacio, who had only scored one league goal until then, on the second matchday against Parma, then scored three goals for his first hat-trick in Serie A, including an 84th-minute equalizer to salvage a 3–3 draw with Fiorentina, and in doing so at the age of 39 years and 86 days, he not only became the oldest player to achieve this feat in Serie A, breaking the previous record held by Silvio Piola since 1950 (37 years and 51 days),[100] but also became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in Europe's top five leagues, breaking the previous record held by La Liga's Joaquín in 2019 (38 years and 140 days).

[101] However, Palacio held the European record for only a couple of months, until December, when Jorge Molina scored a hat-trick in La Liga, aged 39 years and 241 days.

He made his debut in the tournament, entering the pitch in the 64th minute and helping the team win the first match of Group C against the Ivory Coast in a 2–1 victory.

He made his second appearance after playing the last 12 minutes in a 3–0 win against Mexico, securing Argentina's place in the semi-finals of the tournament.

[112] On 15 June 2008, more than three years after his debut with Argentina, Palacio scored his first goal for his country via equalizer in the 93rd minute in a 1–1 draw against Ecuador for the 5th round of 2010 World Cup qualification.

During the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, he played eight matches and assisted several goals that helped Argentina finish first place in its group with 32 points.

[117] Palacio's good form continued in 2014, scoring the opening goal of the match after a corner kick taken by Ángel Di María on 4 June in a 3–0 win against Trinidad and Tobago.