the spanish coach Richard Rodriguez will play this Friday his first game in the prestigious AFC Champions League with the Urawa Red Diamonds. They will do it against the Lion City Sailors of Singapore, after achieving their direct place in the top competition in Asia thanks to the victory in December in the Emperor’s Cup of Japan. “I am especially excited to participate in such an important tournament. It has taken a lot to get here and now it’s time to enjoy and be able to compete. We are looking forward to living an experience like this and returning Urawa to its traditional place,” he commented before the important duel.
Ricardo Rodríguez arrived at Urawa Red Diamonds in January 2021 to make a revolution in his style and return the Japanese team that has the most Champions in its record to the historical place it deserves. His signing was preceded by promotion to the elite with Tokushima Vortis, a club he managed for four seasons. The goal of returning Urawa to glory came after that first course, since He was proclaimed champion of the Emperor’s Cup and the Japanese Super Cup, offering attractive football that achieved recognition throughout the competition.
It will be the first time for an Asturian coach in the Asian Champions. Ricardo Rodríguez is already an eminence in Japan thanks to his successes and the award for best coach of the J-League 2021. In fact, his two titles at the head of the team of Saitama They have made him the first Spaniard to win these trophies in the Japanese country, although now he will also try to make history in the continent’s top club competition. “Since I arrived in Urawa this was one of my great goals, thanks to the work and dedication of the whole team it will be possible to make it a reality,” Rodríguez added about his debut in the Champions League.
Ricardo Rodríguez triumphs in Japan, but Before that, he went to other places on the international scene such as Thailand, Saudi Arabia or Mexico, where he directed the Real Madrid school. In Spain he has worked in some of the most important and prominent teams in the national championship. In his beginnings he was in the subsidiary of Real Oviedo, going through the youth of Girona or Malaga, where he was sports director when he was only 34 years old and assistant to Juan Ramón López Múñiz, with whom he managed to promote the team to the First Division. . A curriculum that has earned him to be considered one of the most important and best prepared Spanish technicians abroad.