Turin, Rodriguez: “I am among the top three in my role. The future? I dream of Spain “

The words of the Swiss at 20 Minuten: Switzerland, the Bull and the future

Ricardo Rodriguez’s career is in a particularly happy moment. The Swiss, for two years now, has found the size of him with Ivan Juric, and for a few months he has been wearing the captain’s armband of Torino. Yesterday he also celebrated his hundred appearances with the national team and made some statements to the Swiss newspaper 20 minutes.

Ricardo Rodriguez began by explaining how happy he was with the 100 appearances for Switzerland: “I am very happy and proud. Not everyone can do it“. With the Swiss the next step is Qatar:”The first thing that comes to mind is the first match against Cameroon. It is important to win this. We have a difficult group. I would have preferred other opponents because four years ago we had Brazil and Serbia“. In the national team Rodriguez holds the role of full-back on the left, unlike what he does at Turin where he is employed as a central in the three-man defense:”What role do I prefer? I really enjoy being a central defender. I consider myself among the top three arms on the left in Italy. But that doesn’t mean he has problems playing full-back“. At the Toro, moreover, there is an unprecedented role at stake for Rodriguez, that of captain:”It is a new challenge that is good for me and that perhaps I would have needed. I’ve never been a player who talks a lot. Now I have to be more communicative. I represent the interests of the team to the manager or give advice to young players“.

The relationship with Torino has solidified over the years: “It is a club of absolute tradition and currently of a good level, comparable to Atalanta or Fiorentina. There were times when the Italian national team was made up almost entirely of Torino players. Serie A is an interesting league, not just the top 3 clubs“. Among these in the last decade Juventus have often returned, with whom the derby is always incandescent:”If you support Juventus or Toro in Turin? In the world it is Juventus, the city belongs to Turin. There is a lot of passion and the fans expect you to wear the shirt with pride. You can feel it at every corner“. And on the lack of goals:”I’m not as dangerous (laughs) as I used to be. Now I’m a central, my job is not to concede a goal in defense“But a bright future at Toro was not something to be taken for granted for Rodriguez, who admitted he had thought of leaving the team and starting again elsewhere before Juric relaunched him:”In the second part of the 2021 season before the European Championships, the coach of the time (Davide Nicola, ed) did not consider me, as I had imagined. Then came Ivan Juric. We had long and intense discussions. I stayed and am now a captain. The future? I have said it several times: playing in Spain is a dream of mine. I love football there. Maybe this will come true. At 30, I’m in the prime of football and I want to play as long as possible. Now we are also launching the Rodriguez Academy and dozens of kids have already signed up. It would certainly be something for the future: giving something back to Switzerland and also to less privileged children“.

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