The most award-winning Canarian athlete in history, the man from Tenerife Pedro Rodriguez, faces his second adventure in European football after signing last summer for the AS Roma from Italian Serie A, after completing four seasons at Chelsea FC. The Abades footballer, who has an impressive track record after the titles he won at Barça and in the team Blue, seeks in its Roman stage to complete an unrivaled track record. The objective of AS Roma is to play the next edition of the Champions and continue advancing in the Europa League where it is already in the round of 16. Pedro Rodríguez, in this exclusive interview with DIARIO DE AVISOS, leaves many headlines related to Barça, CD Tenerife or the Spanish team, with which he was World Champion in South Africa 2010. Apart from sports, the Tenerife footballer has a Foundation whose mission is to help the whole of society through sport, mainly the people who need it most.
-How are things going as a professional for Roma and on a personal level in the Italian capital?
“Very good. I am very happy in Rome both on the team and on a personal level. From the first moment they have welcomed me as one more, both players and fans. I hope to do well here too ”.
-What differences have you found between English and Italian football?
“English football is more physical and dynamic. Here the teams are more defensive and tactical, it is more difficult to create spaces for the forwards, but I am adapting well in the first year to Italian football ”.
-In Pedro’s interests, was the dismissal of Frank Lampard in Chelsea’s technical direction a bit late?
“It came when the club decided it had to come. I had no problem with Frank and I wish him the best in his coaching career. Chelsea is a very special club in my life, it is a great family to which I wish the best in the future. I have very good friends and memories of that wonderful English club. Also, I was lucky to win a Premier League, an FA Cup and a Europa League. I will always carry them all in my heart ”.
-The objective of Roma this season is to finish among the top four in Serie A and play the next Champions League.
“Yes, it is our main objective. Hopefully we can achieve it, it is where Roma deserves to be next year and we are all working for it ”.
-Next week the European competitions will return. Roma visit Shaktar’s Ukrainian team, after getting off Braga.
“Braga had a great team. Now we have a very strong tie against Shaktar who is a quality rival and it will be difficult to overcome in a double game. But we want to continue advancing in the Europa League. Hopefully we can have a great tie to go to the quarterfinals ”.
-This year, Serie A is very different from previous editions where Juventus’ dominance was almost insulting.
“So is. I think the level and competitiveness in Serie A is improving a lot. There are many teams that are very strong. We will see who wins this year ”.
-We suppose that when you have time you look askance at the Spanish league. How do you see your Barca so far this season?
“Barça is always Barça. It may be better or worse but it is still practically the best team in the world, at least for me. In general I see it well. They are still alive in the three competitions and have great players like Leo, Jordi Alba, Busi, Piqué or Ter Stegen. It is a club where I grew a lot as a person and as a player, where I made more friends and where I have more special memories in my life. I only wish the best for this huge club. “
-Does Barca have possibilities of eliminating PSG from the Champions League after 1-4 at the Camp Nou?
“Yes. It’s difficult, but they already did it once. Why can’t they repeat the feat again?
-One of the sensations of the current Barca is his countryman Pedri González. What similarities do you have with Pedro Rodríguez’s first year in the Barça team?
“We are very different players. I imagine that he is enjoying a lot with those wonderful unique players that he has next to him, and that he will be experiencing many emotions as I experienced when I started as a young Barça player. Wish you all the best. It has a great future. I hope he works hard every day because Barça is a very demanding club ”.
-Another of the burning issues in his ex-club is the probable departure of Leo Messi at the end of the season. What is your feeling?
“I do not know. Hopefully Leo can finally stay at Barça. I would like him to end his career there but it is his decision. For me it has been a true honor to have played for so many years with him, and to have achieved so many things at his side ”.
-Today Sunday the elections to the presidency of FC Barcelona are held. Do you have a favorite among the three candidates that are presented: Joan Laporta, Víctor Font or Toni Freixa?
“Hopefully Joan Laporta can win. With him I grew a lot as a player and he is a very attentive person with the players, fans, supporters, etc. I think that it can return the illusion to the barcelonismo. He is also a very close person and with him I achieved my greatest professional successes ”.
-Luis Enrique, national coach, does not usually marry anyone. If Pedro performs at a high level in his club, the doors of the national team are still open.
“I honestly see it very difficult to return to the national team. I think my time has passed. Spain has young players who are doing very well and Luis Enrique is forming a good group of footballers for the future. I wish him the best in his time as coach, and hopefully one day we will see Spain win a World Cup again ”.
-Do you have time to know how CD Tenerife is doing in the Second Division?
“This year I have really followed him less. It is a club that is obviously always in my heart because I am from Tenerife and for which I will always wish the best. I hope they return to the First Division soon ”.
-You are excited to retire in your hometown club.
“I would like very much to play for Barça my last year of my career. I also like the possibility of Tenerife, although I think it is becoming more and more a remote possibility due to my family situation, which is delicate right now. But in life you never know what will happen. We’ll see what happens”.
-After his departure from Chelsea, Ayoze Pérez remains the only representative from Tenerife in the Premier League. Have you been able to talk to him about how he is doing at Leicester?
“Whenever I can, we are in contact. He is a phenomenal player. He has shown that he can play in any league because he has the quality for it. He has been playing in the Premier for many years and at a good level. At Leicester the last time I spoke to him he was delighted. I wish him the best in his career ”.
-Barcelona, London and Rome, three major European cities where Pedro Rodríguez has resided since he left the island.
“I have been fortunate to play in great teams in my career and to live in great cities. On a personal level I am very happy to have been able to get to know great and different cultures. To have been able to adapt quickly and to be able to learn to speak other languages. It has undoubtedly been an enriching experience in my life ”.
-To what degree has the Covid pandemic affected to carry out the projects and activities of your Foundation?
“From the Foundation we got down to work from the first day of the pandemic, donating more than 3000 protective screens to health personnel, more than 300 daily menus for hospitals, food distribution, maintaining school support classes for minors without resources on-line, large donation of school supplies, loan of computer equipment, etc., and all this at the toughest moment of confinement. As a Foundation that relies on its own funds, conducting sports solidarity events in favor of girls and boys with few resources, we have been forced by sanitary restrictions to suspend and postpone several events since March, such as the Arona beach soccer tournament , the International Youth Soccer Tournament, Christmas Clinic and our classic soccer corners. Even so, we have been able to carry out some online events and above all we were able to carry out our Solidarity Campus for more than a month of the summer, where we were able to cover minors with families with fewer resources and who with all the appropriate measures will spend a few weeks of fun , sports, and having their basic needs covered in a very hard time for everyone ”.
-What projects and activities does the Pedro Rodriguez Foundation have planned for the recently started year 2021?
“Despite the restrictions, the whole team, using a lot of imagination, hopes to carry out several online events, such as the Pachanga Second Edition Tournament, in which the best comedians from the Canary Islands, together with me and other athletes from the Island, will be able to play soccer matches online. -line in a fun and dynamic environment where the most important thing is help and let people see you have a good time. Likewise, an on-line Soccer Tournament for fingerling teams on the island, and of course, continue to provide as much help as possible from our social work, such as continuing with our daily classes of school support and reinforcement in languages at our headquarters in San Isidro. We have donated eleven thousand euros to the food bank and a pediatric respirator to the Hospital Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria thanks to the Tenerife program, play as a team with my friend Sergio Rodríguez El Chacho and Radio Club Tenerife, and in this we will continue to try to help the maximum to girls and boys of our island and with the environment. “
-Once you retired from football, will you experience more about your Foundation in the first person?
“Surely I will have more time and I will be able to do it with more dedication than right now. I hope we continue to help as many people as we have done so far ”.
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