Cristian Rodriguez

Cristian Gabriel Rodríguez Barotti is a Uruguayan football player who was born on 30 September 1985 in Juan Lacaze, Uruguay. Rodríguez is currently playing mainly as a left winger for Primera División club Peñarol and Uruguay national football team. He is quite an all-rounder on the field and can play from several other positions such as left midfield, central midfield and attacking midfield. Apart from these positions, he can also play from right wing, left back and centre-back.

Background

Rodriguez began his footballing career by joining training centre and youth academy of the local club Peñarol. After spending a few years with youth team, he was promoted to the senior squad where he led his team to the title victory in 2003.

Debut

Rodriguez made his international debut on 15 October 2003 in a friendly against Mexico. After that, he participated directly in 2004 Copa America.

After leaving Peñarol, he made a free transfer to eminent club Paris Saint-Germain and made his Ligue 1 debut on 3 December 2005 in a 2-0 loss against Olympique Lyon. In his first season of 2005-06, he played 11 Ligue 1 games, 3 Coupe de France matches and 1 Coupe de la Ligue match.

Rise to glory

In June 2008, Rodriguez was bought by Primeira Liga FC Porto. Spending a few months with the club, he became one of the significant players of the squad. During his time with the Porto, he had made a better understanding with the teammates Lisandro López and Hulk. This attacking trio was proven to be very successful for the club. Having Rodriguez in the team, Porto won three Primeira Liga championships in a row between 2008-09 and 2010-11. They also won 2010-11 UEFA Europa League.

After finishing as a runner up in 2011 UEFA Super Cup with FC Porto, Rodriguez won 2011 Copa America title doing national duty for Uruguay.

Before leaving Porto in 2012, he played 119 matches for the club, scoring 16 goals and providing 16 assists.

Most recent season of 2017-18 saw the best of Cristian Rodriguez. Playing with his first club Peñarol, he netted 18 goals in 33 games till date. He has also led his team to the Supercopa Uruguaya title in this season. In the playoffs of Primera Division, he scored two goals in two back to back matches.

Club career

Apart from Peñarol, FC Porto and Paris Saint-Germain, Rodriguez has also represented few more clubs like Atlético Madrid, Club Atlético Independiente, SL Benfica, and Parma Calcio. With Atletico Madrid, he has played second most number of games after FC Porto and has five goals in 98 matches. He had also won 2013-14 La Liga, 2012 UEFA Super Cup and 2012-13 Copa del Rey with Atlético.

In the individual leagues, Rodriguez has been most successful in Liga NOS in which he netted 18 goals and provided nine assists in 95 matches. His second most successful league is Primera División.

Captaincy

Rodriguez is currently captaining Peñarol. He captained the club in almost every game of various leagues in the 2017-18 season. Copa Libertadores, Supercopa Uruguaya, Torneo Intermedio and Primera Division are the leagues in which he led his team and also scored some much needed goals including a goal in Supercopa Uruguaya final against Nacional on 27 January 2018.

Records

Overall, Rodriguez has played 393 club matches in different leagues having 59 goals and 44 assists in his goal tally.

In the international football, playing 104 matches for Uruguay including 2018 World Cup qualifiers, he has got 11 goals to his name.