Place of birth Zurich, Switzerland Number 34 Name Ricardo Rodriguez Height 1.82 m | Playing position 2001–2002 FC Schwamendingen Role Footballer Weight 77 kg | |
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Full name Ricardo Ivan Rodriguez Araya Date of birth (1992-08-25) 25 August 1992 (age 23) Siblings Francisco Rodriguez, Roberto Rodriguez Araya Current teams Switzerland national football team (Defender), VfL Wolfsburg (#34 / Defender) Parents Marcela Rodriguez, Jose Rodriguez Similar People Diego Benaglio, Francisco Rodriguez, Valon Behrami, Naldo, Stephan Lichtsteiner Profiles | ||
Ricardo Ivan Rodriguez Araya (born 25 August 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a left back for VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.
Contents
- FC Zurich
- Early career
- 201314 season
- 201415 season
- 201516 season
- International career
- Playing style
- Personal life
- Career statistics
- Club
- International
- Individual
- References
Born to a Spanish father and a Chilean mother, Rodriguez began his professional career at local club FC Zurich in 2010, having spent eight years in the youth setup. After breaking through into the first team at Zurich, Rodriguez was sold to VfL Wolfsburg in January 2012 for £7.5 million. He has been described as an accomplished defender and is noted for his strong heading ability, and ability to deliver pinpoint crosses. Rodriguez is also noted for his speciality in dead-ball situations and for penalty-taking abilities, emerging as Wolfsburg's first-choice penalty taker.
Rodriguez has earned caps at every level of the Swiss national team setup, winning the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2009. A full international for Switzerland since 2011, Rodriguez has earned over 25 caps for the country. He was part of the Swiss team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and later that year was voted Swiss Footballer of the Year.
FC Zurich
Rodriguez began playing football at the highly regarded youth club FC Schwamendingen in 2001 before joining the youth setup of FC Zurich as an 11-year-old in 2002. He was promoted to the senior squad in 2009 at age 16, making the bench for Zurich's 2–3 defeat to NK Maribor in the first leg of their third qualifying round Champions League tie on 29 July 2009.
He made his Zurich debut as a 17-year-old in the 25th round of the Swiss Super League on 21 March 2010, replacing the injured Hannu Tihinen in the first-half of the 2–0 win over Bellinzona. His full debut came in the Zurich Derby against Grasshoppers on 5 April, playing the entire 3–2 win for the hosts.
He made only his second start in the first match of the Swiss Super League season on 20 July 2010, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–3 defeat to rivals FC Basel. On 28 April 2011, he scored his first professional goal for the club, opening the scoring for the hosts as they ran out 3–0 winners over Neuchatel Xamax at the Letzigrund.
Rodriguez made his European debut in the first-leg of their third qualifying round tie against Standard Liege on 27 July 2011. He played the entire match and provided the cross for fellow Zurich youth team graduate Admir Mehmedi as the Swiss secured a 1–1 draw at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne in Belgium. In the second leg, Rodriguez missed from an open goal from close range but Zurich won 1–0 to earn a spot in the play-off round against Bayern Munich. He played the entirety of both play-off matches against Bayern, but the Swiss side fell 0–3 on aggregate and dropped into the Europa League.
On 26 October 2011, Rodriguez scored his second goal for the club, netting his side's second from the penalty spot, in a 2–0 win over FC Thun. The club's final Super League match before the winter break on 10 December 2011, turned out to be Rodriguez's last in a Zurich shirt, playing the entire 1–1 draw with FC Sion. On 11 January 2012, Zurich officials announced that the club had accepted a bid for Rodriguez by German side Wolfsburg and that he was on the verge of completing the transfer, subject to a medical. Despite being sold mid-way through the season, Rodriguez was voted as the Fans' Player of the Season on 4 June 2012, ahead of Oliver Buff and Pedro Henrique.
Early career
VfL Wolfsburg purchased Rodriguez as a 19-year-old on 13 January 2012 for £7.5 million with the player signing a four and a half year deal. He quickly asserted himself into the first-team lineup, making his Bundesliga debut the next day against 1. FC Koln, a 1–0 victory for the Wolves. Rodriguez went on to play every game of the season from that point on without being substituted, becoming a favorite on the left of the defense for manager Felix Magath.
Through the first ten league games of the following campaign, Rodriguez was once again an ever-present in the squad, featuring in all the outings, starting eight. But Magath was sacked after a poor run of form in the league and when Lorenz-Gunther Kostner was installed as interim manager, the more experienced Marcel Schafer was preferred at left back. Once Dieter Hecking was appointed manager though, Rodriguez won his place back in the first team.
2013–14 season
On 9 November 2013, he scored his first goal for Wolfsburg, from a direct free kick in a home Bundesliga match against Borussia Dortmund. The match ended in a 2–1 win for Wolfsburg, although they were losing at half-time. His second goal for Wolfsburg came from the penalty spot against Hamburg on 29 November, earning his side a 1–1 draw. He opened the scoring in their Bundesliga match on 14 December, curling the ball past keeper Sven Ulreich, as Wolfsburg won 3–1.
He finished the 2013–14 season with five league goals, in addition to nine assists. He failed to make it into the Bundesliga Team of the Season, but was included in a list of the Best Defenders for the 2013–14 campaign. Rodriguez's nine assists also meant that he created more goals than any other full-back in Europe. His impressive displays during the season included 2.3 key passes per game, the same number as Andrea Pirlo, the two-time reigning Serie A Footballer of the Year, and 2.6 successful dribbles per game, more than Cristiano Ronaldo, the reigning Ballon d'Or winner.
2014–15 season
He scored his first ever goal in European football for Wolfsburg on 18 September 2014, netting directly from a free-kick after having previously scored an own-goal in a 4–1 defeat to English side Everton. Three days later, Rodriguez scored twice more for Wolfsburg, once from the penalty spot and a volley from a Kevin De Bruyne corner, as Wolfsburg defeated Bayer Leverkusen 4–1. He scored his third league goal of the season against Werder Bremen on 27 September, converting a De Bruyne cross to put Wolfsburg up 1–0 in an eventual 2–1 victory.
In October 2014, Rodriguez was ruled out for a number of weeks with a troubled patella tendon and thigh. On 31 October, his agent, Roger Wittman, confirmed that Rodriguez and Wolfsburg had opened contract talks to extend his current deal beyond 2016. Rodriguez scored twice in Wolfsburg's 3–0 win away to Lille on 11 December, a result which advanced his side into the Europa League knockout stage instead of their opponents. In January 2015, he signed a new contract up to June 2019. He scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on 7 April, as Wolfsburg defeated SC Freiburg to reach the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal, also making a goalline clearance later on. In the final on 30 May, he played the full 90 minutes as Wolfsburg won their first cup, defeating Borussia Dortmund 3–1.
2015–16 season
Rodriguez played the full 90 minutes of Wolfsburg's victory over Bayern Munich in the 2015 DFL-Supercup, scoring their first attempt in the penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw.
International career
In 2009, he was part of the Swiss U17 team who won the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup. His first goal of the tournament came in Switzerland's second group game against Japan on 27 October 2009, netting the winning goal as the match ended 4–3. He opened the scoring for the Swiss in the 35th minute against Germany in the Round of 16 as Switzerland eventually won 4–3 in added extra time. In the semi-finals against Colombia, he scored Switzerland's final goal of their 4–0 win to reach their first final of a FIFA competition since a 3–0 loss to Uruguay in the 1924 Olympics. He played the entire final against Nigeria on 15 November, helping Switzerland to a 1–0 victory to become just the third European nation to lift the trophy.
Rodriguez made his debut for Switzerland in a Euro 2012 qualifying match against Wales on 7 October 2011, replacing Xherdan Shaqiri in the second half of the 0–2 loss. In his full debt four days later, Rodriguez played the entire match as the Swiss defeated Montenegro 2–0 to end their qualification campaign on a high, despite missing out on a playoff spot to the Balkan side. In a friendly match against the Netherlands on 11 November, he played the entire match as the Swiss kept a clean sheet in Amsterdam.
He played all three matches for Switzerland at the 2012 Olympics, in which they were eliminated in the group stage.
Rodriguez featured in nine of ten World Cup qualifying matches for the Swiss, totaling 810 minutes, as they qualified for the World Cup with a game to spare, thanks to a 2–1 win over Albania on 11 October 2013. On 13 May 2014, Rodriguez was named in Switzerland's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In their opening group game against Ecuador on 15 June, he took the corner which was headed by Admir Mehmedi for the equaliser, as well as crossing for Haris Seferovic to score the winner in a 2–1 victory. During the tournament finals in Brazil, he averaged 5 tackles and 2.5 interceptions per game, earning plaudits for his strong tackling as well as his ability to read the game.
Playing style
Rodriguez is known for being equally adept at defending as he is going forward. Experts consider him as an accomplished defender and note his strong heading ability. As well as considering him a continual attacking threat and noting his exceptional stamina and pace which allow for his constant, buccaneering runs up the wing. Conversely, he has been criticised for giving too much room to opposition attackers, taking up poor positioning and lacking in defensive discipline, and other analysts have criticised his concentration.
He has become known for his pinpoint crossing and accurate left foot and has been compared to Everton and England left back Leighton Baines. He is also noted for his speciality in dead ball situations and for penalty taking abilities, emerging as Wolfsburg's first-choice penalty taker during the 2013–14 season. In 2014, his manager Dieter Hecking praised Rodriguez as "the best left-back in the Bundesliga".
Personal life
Rodriguez was born in Zurich to a Spanish father and a Chilean mother. As a result, he is fluent in Spanish and holds Spanish and Chilean nationalities. He is the younger brother of FC St. Gallen midfielder Roberto Rodriguez and the older brother of Switzerland U19 midfielder Francisco Rodriguez, who also plays for VfL Wolfsburg.