Issue 1247 - The Courier

36.sportfeature
Tuesday 6 March 2012 Th eCourier
The Curious Case of Cesar Rodriguez
Online Sports Editor Charlie Scott discusses the man that Lionel Mess wishes to emulate
Lionel Messi’s strike against Atletico
Madrid last weekend took his goal
tally this season to 43 in 41 appearances
in all competitions, and was his
223rd in a Barcelona shirt.
But, what of the man whose title as
Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer,
Messi so craves?
The only person left standing between
Messi and his aim is Cesar
Rodriguez Alvarez, the scorer of 235
goals for Barcelona, 13 more than the
diminutive Argentine’s current total
of 223.
With Messi scoring at will- it has
taken him under two years to net
his last 100 goals- we take a moment
to reconsider the career of the man
whose record Messi looks set to surpass
before the season’s end.
Cesar’s time at the Catalan giants
spanned three decades, from 1939
until 1955, and interruptions to his
career meant he probably could have
scored even more than the 235 goals
that currently make him the club’s alltime
top goal-scorer.
After joining the club as a 19-year
old in 1939 for a measly 1,000 pesetas
both he and Barcelona had no choice
but to authorise a two-year loan move
to Granada CF after the young striker
was relocated to the city to complete
military service.
After hauling Granada into the
top flight in his first season at
the club he then cemented their
Back of the net
Video of the week
Mike Dean ‘celebrates’ Tottenham goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg33RXiK_
status in La Liga with an impres-
sive 23 goals in 24 games the following
season. Despite clearly
enjoying himself at the lucian outfit, Barcelona unsurprisingly
wanted to use his
talents themselves and he re-
turned to his parent club in 1942.
Despite scoring freely for Barcelona
to such an extent that he became, and
remains for the time being, their alltime
leading goalscorer in Anda-
competi-
tive games, Cesar was never given the
opportunities at international level
that his talent and performances at
club level clearly merited.
Back at Barcelona however, Cesar
flourished, scoring 235 goals in official
competitions before his retirement
in 1955. The talented striker
won his first league title in the 1944-
45 season, and went on to win further
titles in 48, 49, 52 and 53.
Effective and undoubtedly prolific
in the 40s it was not until the joint arrival
of Ferdinand Daucik as manager
and the creative, free-scoring midfielder
Laszlo Kubala in 1950 that the
club witnessed the extent of Cesar’s
powers. Alongside the sensational
Hungarian, Cesar reached a new
level. The two stars shone as Barcelona
won five trophies during the 51-
52 season, scoring 68 goals between
them, and terrorizing defences week
in week out. Another La Liga title followed
a year later in 53, but aged 33
that would turn out to be Cesar’s last.
Cesar is fondly remembered by
Barca fans, not just for his abundance
of goals, but particularly for who he
happened to score regularly against.
14 of his 235 goals came in El Clasicos
against Real Madrid, making him the
third highest scorer in the
fixture
ever. Unsurprisingly Messi
is hot on his heels with 13.
Af-
ter leaving celona in 1955
Bar-
Getty
Images
As Louis Saha’s chip over Wojciech Szczesny heads towards
goal, referee Mike Dean gets a little too involved jumping up
and down as the ball goes in.
Cesar
played
first for his
hometown
c l u b
Cultural
Leonesa, then
for
Perpignan
in France be-
fore
moving
Who are ya? One would
have thought Barcelona’s
fans would remember
their top goalscorer
Getty Images
Testing times
back to Spain to play for Elche, whom
he led to back-to-back promotions
from the third to the first division.
A fairly uninspiring managerial career
followed with a 6-game spell at
Barcelona and consecutive relegations
at Real Betis and Mallorca proving
particular lowlights.
His managerial ability aside, on the
pitch his ability is beyond question.
Cesar should be rated more highly
1.) Which club holds the record for the most English Second
Flight League Championships won?
2.) Who was the last England player to score a winning
goal against the Netherlands in a full international?
3.) In what year did the European Cup last not have an
English side in the last eight?
4.) Which female tennis player holds the record for the
fastest serve?
5.) Which two Argentinian footballers won the Premier
League Player of the Month Award?
1.) Manchester City (7), 2.) Teddy Sheringham
(Euro 96’), 3.) 1996, 4.) Venus Williams
(205kmph), 5.) Juan Sebastian Veron (2001) and
Carlos Tevez (2009)
than he is. Kubala tends to receive
all the plaudits whenever Barcelona’s
success in the fifties is mentioned yet
Cesar’s contribution should not be
undervalued. 235 competitive goals
and 5 league championships. The
numbers speak for themselves.
Perhaps he gets overlooked because
he remarkably never appeared regularly
for Spain, playing just 12 times
for the national team and being an
1
2
3
Spot the ball
unused substitute at the 1950 World
Cup in Brazil. If this is the case then
it is a shame, and maybe his contribution
to the club and to football should
be reconsidered.
Messi is only 13 goals away from
surpassing his goal-scoring record yet
many fans have still not even heard of
Cesar Rodriguez.
They really should have.
A B C D E F
Tweet of the week
-@maxrushden
The Soccer AM host’s daily summising of thoughts take a
bizarre, and very expensive, turn:
“#Todaysconclusions without my accountant
I’d be in prison, you can have pizza for
lunch & dinner, £35.99 is too much for an
easter egg.”
This week in sport
University Sport:
11 Mar 1967: Newcastle’s Men’s Rugby Union 3rds beat
Liverpool to reach the UAU Cup Final, where they were
set to face a Loughborough side who had scored 15o
points in their last two matches.
Intra Mural:
11 Mar 1967: P. Martin wins the Close House Memorial
cross country race, after the unfortunate P. Vale lost his
early lead after his shoe came off in the muddy grounds.
World:
7 Mar 1987: Mike Tyson unifies the WBC and WBA
belts by beating James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith to becoming
the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion.
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