Always does a useful job and a real leader on the pitch
As one coach privately puts it, the great thing about Maxi Rodríguez is that he is “always useful”. He might not be the most technically gifted player, or the quickest, or the strongest, but he is clever, committed and invariably makes the right choices on the pitch.
He also has the happy knack of getting lots of goals from his narrow right-sided position: he scored 15 in the last of his three seasons at Newell’s and 15 in the last of his three at Espanyol, before joining Atletico Madrid for €4m in 2005-06. Since then, he has scored 10, six and eight respectively despite suffering a number of niggling injuries.
A real leader on the pitch, he has been made Atletico’s captain. Nicknamed the Fiera (animal; beast; bull), his international goalscoring record for Argentina is better than a goal every three games – and includes the stunning volley that defeated Mexico at the 2006 World Cup.