FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

Above Brushing off

Barcelona’s Philippe

Coutinho last term

Left Pep puts Rodri

through his paces

Below Emilio ‘The

Vulture’ Butragueno

FourFourTwo September 2019 69

“He was a very normal kid, very humble and
very switched on,” added Alvarez. “Rodri was
always very clear that his life wasn’t just about
football. He really wanted to live the life of any
normal kid as well.”
These are no idle words, either. After a year,
Rodri turned 18 and had to leave Villarreal’s
youth team residence. Offered a professional
deal, and spot in the club’s reserve side for the
2014-15 campaign, he did what any aspiring
footballer would – enrol at the local university.
Not only did he study business management
at the Universidad de Castellon – graduating
this year – he lived in their halls of residence
for the remaining four years he would be with
the Yellow Submarine.
“A lot of people freaked out when they saw
him on the campus or in our communal areas,
especially when he was playiing in Villarreal’s
first team,” laughs Valentin Henarejo, Rodri’s
best bud at university who was there studying
medicine. “After a few days of seeing him on
the sofa, everyone got to know him, but it was
weird watching him play ping-pong or doing
his own laundry.”
There were no delusions of grandeur, though.
Valentin recalls how his friend’s smartphone
was “half-broken, but he didn’t care” and that
he later purchased his first car (a second-hand
Opel Corsa) from an old woman shortly after
passing his driving test.
“We told him he should buy a better one as
the insurance would be really high and that it
was a long drive to Madrid from Castellon,”
explained Valentin. “He couldn’t understand
his team-mates spending a fortune on a car –
to him it’s for taking you from A to B.”
Studying was, and still is, Rodri’s main hobby.
Some footballers like to play a round of golf,
others play Fortnite and FIFA or buy overpriced
high-end fashion, but the midfielder prefers
learning something new to remain sane. He
focused on science for the Spanish equivalent
of his A-levels.
“I chose business because I wanted to study
something that gave me options later in life
and wasn’t too specific,” he revealed. “I’m
pretty certain that when I’m finally done with
football, I’ll leave the game altogether.
“That’s why I study. I don’t want to dedicate
the years I have left in my life, 60 or however
many, without having anything to do. Studying
actually helps to clear my mind, and I’ll think
about other things.
“They were the happiest four years of my
life,” he continued. “People ask me, ‘What were
you doing there?’ Well, maturing as a person.
Footballers live with an incredibly high quality
of life, but for others, life is a daily struggle.
We know we’re going to live well, and it helped
me realise when you have an actual problem,
or if it’s just a silly, small thing. It’s all relative.”
Fully relaxed in his uni halls of residence and
restored to his preferred position in front of the
back four, Rodri’s progress resumed, becoming
a regular for the Villarreal reserves team from
February 2015. Within a year, the midfielder
was a first-team regular and known around
the Yellow Submarine camp as ‘apagafuegos’,

JUAN MATA

SPORTS SCIENCE AND MARKETING

The Manchester United playmaker is a man

of many talents. Mata left the Polytechnic

University of Madrid with a sports science

degree. The 31-year-old ex-Chelsea man also

studied PE and Marketing and writes a blog.

ANDRES INIESTA

SPORTS SCIENCE

Barcelona legend Iniesta studied sports

science at a university in the Catalan capital.

The 2010 World Cup Final match-winner,

who joined Japanese outfit Vissel Kobe last

summer after more than two decades and

almost 700 games for the Blaugrana, also

makes his own wine as part of a family firm.

EMILIO BUTRAGUENO

ECONOMICS

Dubbed ‘El Buitre’ (The Vulture), the striker

was a member of Real Madrid’s dominant

team of the 1980s and lifted five La Liga

titles on the spin from 1986 to 1990. Emilio

studied economics and later did a Masters

in Sports Management, before becoming

Real’s director of football and vice-president.

ESTEBAN GRANERO

PSYCHOLOGY

The former QPR and Spain U21 midfielder is

also a keen academic, and was fascinated

by the University of Oxford when he arrived

in England from Real Madrid back in 2012.

The 32-year-old did his degree at Camilo

Jose Cela University in the Spanish capital.

Words Paavan Mohindru

OTHER SPAnISH SCHOLARS

or ‘firefighter’. He was also called Bruno Xiquet

(Little Bruno) because of the similarity in style

to their legendary defensive midfielder, now

35 with more than 400 outings to his name.

“He was a reference for me,” Rodri recalled

of the player he places alongside Zidane as

a hero. “I was lucky to observe not only what

he does on the pitch, but also his leadership.”

Now with the physique to dominate as well

as recycle possession, he led La Liga charts for

interceptions and ball recoveries in 2016-17,

and was soon called up into Albert Celades’

Spain Under-21s squad.

“What commands my attention is the way

he plays so quickly with both feet, taking the

ball away from areas where he’s under a lot

of pressure,” enthused Celades. “He does very

difficult things with total ease. Just like Sergio

Busquets, he’s got the intuition to put himself

in exactly the right spot, knowing where he’s

going to go to win the ball back.”

Comparisons with Barcelona’s master pivote

are nothing new. Speak to any coach, past or

present, who’s worked with Rodri for a period

of time and Busquets’ name will quickly come

up, with many believing that he is the latter’s

natural heir for Spain.

“He reminds me of players from the Barça

style in front of the defence,” said his Atletico

youth coach, Exposito. “I can understand the

comparisons with Busquets, but Rodri has got

more goals in him than Busi. That makes him

the complete pivote.”

Indeed, with Busquets struggling with injury

before the 2018 World Cup, it was Rodri who

was called up to train with the squad in the

former’s stead, so striking are the similarities.

“Rodri is the bomb,” proclaimed one Villarreal

executive in 2017. “At his age, there doesn’t

exist another footballer quite like him. He will

define an era.”

Unfortunately for the Yellow Submarine,

that era would not be in Castellon, the pull of

his hometown club too strong to ignore as

Rodri rejoined Atletico last summer for €20m.

The first person he told was university friend

Valentin, while heating up a pizza back at their

student digs.

“I never thought I would come back here,”

admitted Rodri. “I thought that was it for me

and Atleti.”

Wearing boss Diego Simeone’s legendary

No.14 jersey, many Colchoneros fans hoped

Rodri’s return would signify a move to a more

possession-based system.

His numbers evolved from being

among the very best in La Liga,

to leading the way across Europe’s

top divisions among his defensive

midfield contemporaries: Barça’s

Busquets, Real Madrid’s Casemiro,

William Carvalho of Real Betis,

and Fernandinho, Nemanja Matic,

Jorginho and Jordan Henderson

of Manchester City, Manchester

United, Chelsea and Liverpool

respectively. Last season, Rodri

boasted the best passing accuracy

(91 per cent), averaged the most