José Rodríguez (25 years old, Villajoyosa) has always acknowledged having a special hole in his memory dedicated to José Mourinho, the coach who made him debut with Real Madrid and made him the youngest to wear the white elastic in a Champions League match, at just 17 years old (against Ajax in 2012-13). The Portuguese coach held him in high esteem (“I'm going to make you 'the most famous gypsy in the world,” he said jokingly) and now, eight years later, student and teacher meet again. Stage? The qualifying phase of the Europa League in which Tottenham of 'Mou' and Maccabi Haifa of José face this Thursday (9:00 p.m.).
“8 years later we will meet again as rivals to enter the Europa League. I wish you the best after this match.” This message, accompanied by a photo of both of them in their joint stage at Real Madrid, has been the affectionate message from the Spaniard to his great supporter during his time at Paseo de la Castellana. At his command, he made a brilliant appearance in the first level, even scoring a goal in his debut with the first team in a Cup match against Alcoyano (1-4 win) in October 2012.
A globetrotter
Since then, Deportivo, Galatasaray, Mainz, Malaga, Maccabi de Tel Aviv, Fortuna Sittard, Fuenlabrada and now Maccabi Haifa have been their teams. Málaga's economic problems did not allow him to shine on the Costa del Sol, but he managed to gain a foothold in Fuenlabrada, the revelation team of the last Smarbank League, in the second half of last year.
In Israel, little by little he is making his way and, although from the bench, he has participated in the last three games of his team. But, Surely none of them makes him so excited as the one who will play against Tottenham this Thursday, with Mourinho in front. The coach who wanted to take him to Chelsea, as the player himself acknowledged in an interview with El País, and that now it will try to truncate its European dream.