Francesc Rodríguez 'Rodri', the historic defender of FC Barcelona between 1958 and 1966, died at the age of 88

Francesc Rodríguez ‘Rodri’, historic central defender of Barcelona between the years 1934 and 1966 and, subsequently, a member of the technical structure of the club, has died at 88 years of age, as reported on Tuesday by the Barça entity.

The defender, born in Barcelona on March 8, 1934, disputed 236 matches with the Barça first team and donned the Spanish national team jersey four times.

Together with Ferran Olivella and Sigfrid Gràcia, ‘Rodri’ became one of the basic pieces of defense for the team led by coach Helenio Herrera between 1958 Y 1960.

The arrival of Jesús Garay eventually relegated him to the substitution, but in the season 1961-62 regained ownership. From 1963 he suffered the scourge of injuries and ended up retiring in 1966 to the 32 years of age.

With the azulgrana jacket ‘Rodri’ he won two Fair Cups (1959/60 Y 1965/66), two Leagues (1959/59 Y 1959/60) Y two Cups (1959/59 Y 1962/63).

Once he hung up his boots, he became a pa part of the azulgrana technical team. He trained in the lower categories (1965-70) and later was the assistant to coaches Vic Buckingham, Marinus Michels, Hennes Weisweiler and Laureano Ruiz over the years 1970 Y 1976. Later he made the leap to the offices, where he coordinated Barça youth football and was also an observer for young footballers.

The Barcelona player took his first steps as a footballer in 1949 in the Europa youth team. Later he played in the Peña Xics and in the various lower categories of the subsidiary team the Industrial Spain, called Comtal from 1956, when they moved up to the First Division.

‘Rodri’ continued at Comtal when they returned to the Second Division at the end of the season 1956/57. In the summer of 1958, Helenio Herrera incorporated him into the Barcelona first team.

You may be interested in:

Times of crisis: Barcelona puts a price on two of its stars to face its economic problems

Heading to the Camp Nou? Robert Lewandowski informs Bayern Munich that he will not renew