Soccer Future Watch: Rodrygo Soccer Cards, Real Madrid – Eric Goes had an unremarkable career in Brazil’s lower leagues. He was a right back that moved around a lot. He played for whatever team had an open spot on the roster all over the state of Sao Paolo. Making it at one of the state’s two most successful teams, Santos, was unimaginable for an ordinary sort of player like Eric. But for his son, Rodrygo, it was a very different story.
Rodrygo joined the Santos academy, in the footsteps of Pele and Neymar, when he was 10. The coaches at the academy initially sent him to play futsal (indoor football) but it quickly became clear that this boy needed to get out off the hard court and out onto the grass.
In 2017, 6 years after he walked into Santos FC, Rodrygo signed his first professional contract and was promoted to the senior team.
At 17 years and 50 days old, Rodrygo became the youngest ever Santos player to play in the Copa Libertadores. Then, just a couple of weeks later, he became the youngest Brazilian ever to score in that same competition. This record has since been broken.
When he moved to Real Madrid in 2018 for a rumoured price of around $50M, he took his special aptitude for continental competition with him. He was the first player born in the 21st Century to score a UEFA Champions League hattrick.
Although he has yet to become a prolific goal scorer for Los Blancos, his UEFA Champions League record is quite extraordinary relative to his performances in La Liga. He is known, half-jokingly, among fans and media in Spain as Mr Champions League Jr. Mr Champions League Senior being Cristiano Ronaldo. This reputation was cemented in the 2021-22 campaign when he scored 5 goals in 11 UCL appearances and helped Carlo Ancelotti’s side lift the trophy for a 14th
time.
If Rodrygo can add more goals to his game and lock down a place in this Real Madrid team, like his compatriot Vini Jr has done, the sky is the limit.
One of the benefits of being a fabulously talented footballer from Brazil is that you get to play for the Brazilian national team. Rodrygo made his debut in November 2019 and coach Tite has consistently selected him for squads ever since. There is absolutely no reason why Rodrygo can’t appear at World Cup 2022, 2026, and beyond. There, he’ll have opportunities to shine on the biggest stage of them all.
This 21 year-old forward has rookie cards in 2019-20 Panini Chronicles Soccer.
Soccer Future Watch: Rodrygo – Statistics
Statistical image generated on Sports Reference as of 10/26/2022.
Soccer Future Watch: Rodrygo Soccer Cards, Real Madrid – More Resources
- Secondary Market Pricing
- Beckett Card Catalog
- Player Profile
- Rodrygo – Twitter
- Rodrygo – Instagram
Soccer Future Watch: Rodrygo Soccer Cards, Real Madrid – Image Gallery
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