{"id":21027,"date":"2025-12-11T16:45:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T15:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/?post_type=news&p=21027"},"modified":"2025-12-11T16:45:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T15:45:45","slug":"%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udf99\ufe0fINTERVIEW | Rodriguez opens up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In an interview conducted for the Club’s official channels, Juan Mart\u00edn Rodr\u00edguez opens up for the first time since arriving in Sardinia. He discusses his first taste of football as a child, his Uruguayan heritage, and the bond between his country and Cagliari that dates back to the early 1990s. He also discusses the emotions of his recent debut, with two excellent performances in just a few days against Roma and Napoli. <\/p>\n\n

THE ORIGINS AND FIRST KICKS“I’ve always been passionate about soccer as a child and then as a boy,” he says. “I spent a lot of time playing with friends from the neighborhood or with family members. At school, I mostly thought about recess, wanting to play again. I was three years old when I started. I didn’t even pick up a ball; I’d just play with the sand in the middle of the field, but then, over the years, I began to get the hang of it and actually play.” A key figure in his growth was his grandfather: “He was like a second father. Sometimes my mother or father couldn’t take me to practice, but he\u2014Grandpa Juan Carlos\u2014was always available.” L’IDENTIT\u00c0 URUGUAIANA\u201cQuando esci dall\u2019Uruguay la gente ti riconosce come uruguaiano e guarda a te come a uno che pu\u00f2 emulare ci\u00f2 che altri connazionali hanno fatto in Europa. Significa dimostrare quel modo di vivere il calcio che ci identifica. Mio padre \u00e8 stato il mio primo allenatore. Poi Seraf\u00edn Garc\u00eda ha influito molto a livello formativo al Pe\u00f1arol. Jadson Viera mi ha dato la possibilit\u00e0 di esordire in prima divisione al Boston River. E Diego Aguirre mi ha aiutato tantissimo quando sono rientrato al Pe\u00f1arol: giocare in prima squadra non \u00e8 lo stesso che farlo nelle giovanili.\u201dIDENTITY KIT“I’m a very dedicated, team-minded, and humble player. I try to give my all for the team. Commitment comes first: we try to give our all, obviously also on a technical level. Role models? I used to look up to God\u00edn a lot, now I follow Gim\u00e9nez; I like the way he marks and how he handles clinches. And then Van Dijk; I like his sense of timing.”ITALIAN FOOTBALL“It’s difficult to adapt to Italian football: here it’s very fast-paced, you play a lot with the ball at your feet, it’s all very technical and tactical. In Uruguay, the pace is different, you have more time to think.”<\/p>\n\n

THE WELCOME IN CAGLIARI“From day one, they made me feel at ease. The Rossoblu’s history is full of great Uruguayans, and they all try to help you give what others have given to the Rossoblu jersey. Diego Lopez? He told me to stay calm, to learn, and that when my time came, I should make the most of it.” Among his former Cagliari compatriots, Nahitan N\u00e1ndez was also a role model: “I met him in the national team. He welcomed me and told me Cagliari was a great place to play. I knew that coming here had been a great experience for many Uruguayans. My family and friends were thrilled. It was my first step into Europe.” THE CITY, THE DEBUT, THE FANSCagliari is a very peaceful place. When people see you, they say hello or congratulate you, and that pushes you to improve. I felt enormous pride in making my debut in the Coppa Italia and then in Serie A. I’ve been working for years to get to these moments. Without my family, my friends, and my grandfather, I wouldn’t have achieved anything. I saw the fans from the bench and I wanted to experience it from within. Luckily, it happened, and then came a prestigious victory against Roma. I’m happy; we’re doing well. It’s difficult being away from my family, but I try to do my best to make them proud of me. I thank the fans for how they’ve treated me since day one and for how they support us everywhere. Having their support is very important to us. I ask them to continue to have faith and encourage us: we’ll try to defend them on the pitch and do our best so that in the end they’re all happy and proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21018,"template":"","tags":[],"news_cat":[280,278,276,274],"class_list":["post-21027","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_cat-interviews","news_cat-new-in","news_cat-latest-news","news_cat-first-team"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\ud83c\udf99\ufe0fINTERVIEW | Rodriguez opens up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the interview conducted for the Club's official channels, Juan Mart\u00ecn Rodriguez opens up for the first time since his arrival in Sardinia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83c\udf99\ufe0fINTERVIEW | Rodriguez opens up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the interview conducted for the Club's official channels, Juan Mart\u00ecn Rodriguez opens up for the first time since his arrival in Sardinia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cagliari\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MAXC5602-rodriguez.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2063\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1547\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/\",\"name\":\"\ud83c\udf99\ufe0fINTERVIEW | Rodriguez opens up\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MAXC5602-rodriguez.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T15:45:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"In the interview conducted for the Club's official channels, Juan Mart\u00ecn Rodriguez opens up for the first time since his arrival in Sardinia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MAXC5602-rodriguez.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MAXC5602-rodriguez.webp\",\"width\":2063,\"height\":1547},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/news\/%f0%9f%8e%99%ef%b8%8finterview-rodriguez-opens-up\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\ud83c\udf99\ufe0fINTERVIEW | Rodriguez opens up\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cagliaricalcio.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Cagliari - 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