DIFFERENT LEAGUE
F
ormer LFC midfielder Maxi
Rodriguez is celebrating a
league title win at the age of
36 after Penarol clinched a 51st
Uruguayan championship.
Maxi, who scored 17 goals for
the Reds in 73 games between
2010 and 2012, returned to South
America after leaving Anfield to
play for Newell's Old Boys – the
club with whom he started his
career – in his hometown of
Rosario, Argentina.
He made 159 appearances
and netted 56 goals during his
second spell there before moving
to Penarol, Uruguay's most
successful club.
The Uruguayan Primera
Division is split into two stages,
Torneo Apertura (opening
championship) and Torneo
Clausura (closing one), with
the winners of both meeting
in a two-legged play-off. The
winner of that tie subsequently
takes on the best team in the
aggregate table in a final to
decide the eventual champions.
But with Penarol having toppedboth the Clausura and overall
table it meant that their play-off
with Apertura winners Defensor
Sporting would be decisive.
In a controversial first game at
Estadio Centenario, Uruguay's
national stadium, the visitors
were denied after a deflected
cross appeared to go over the
line (video technology isn't used
in Uruguay) before Penarol's
Cebolla Rodriguez headed home
a 94th-minute winner.
The second game at the
same venue finished 0-0 after
extra-time and with decisiveresults rather than an aggregate
scoreline required, it went to
penalties. Maxi, who was subbed
in the second half, didn't take
one but his team-mates were
spot-on, winning 4-2 to secure
Penarol's third league title in six
seasons and deny Defensor
what would've been just the fifth
championship in their history.
In total Maxi, who turns 37 next
month, scored seven goals in 15
appearances in his first season
for Penarol including one during
a 2-1 win against Montevideo's
Liverpool Futbol Club in August.Maxi's magic moment
Former Reds ace helps Penarol to Uruguay's slightly complicated league title!
URUGUAY
Maxi-mum joy