Rodri: “I was going to train in an Opel Corsa like a real star, my teammates picked on me, but I didn’t care, I loved it”

Rodri He has been proclaimed world champion as the captain of the Spanish team. However, glory was not always part of his life and, as happens in many other cases of athletes, his beginnings in the world of football were not easy. This was revealed in ‘The Players tribune’, where he wrote an extensive letter.

“I was still training with the second team (of Villarreal). I was nobody. I didn’t even have a car. The student residence was a fifteen-minute drive from Villarreal’s training center and I couldn’t afford to pay for a taxi every day. So I was cycling to the tram stationI put my bike on the tram and then pedaled the rest of the way to training,” the City midfielder began.

And he continued: “I finally got the license and I told my father: “Okay, I have 3,000 euros to buy a car. See what you find.” He called me the next day: “Okay, I found a good one. An older lady sells it. He asks for 4000, but he has a computer.” I thought: “Wow! With a computer? “It’s a bargain.”

“He brought me the car. It was an Opel Corsa. I got on and the “computer” screen measured about 8 centimeters. You could touch it to turn on the radio and little else. I was amazed. YoI went to train with that car every day, like a real star. My classmates picked on me, but I didn’t care! I loved it!” He has stuck out his chest.

“The following year I made my debut in La Liga and I think my friends at school were a bit blown away. They told me that they were watching a game on television and that the boy in the hallway appeared on the screen. The classmate in his accounting class was number 6,” Rodri recalled.