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Rodrigo Moreno has spoken these days, for the first time, of his (not) leaving Valencia for Atlético de Madrid last summer. He maintains a skeptical tone, perhaps thinking that the month of January is just around the corner and that, while that comes, his position in the Spanish team is assured. Because the example of the Valencia striker (Rio de Janeiro, 28 years old) somehow belies the theory, first of Luis Enrique and then of Robert Moreno , that nobody here has the place in property.

They are striking, and much, the numbers. Since returning to the national team on October 6, 2017 in a game against Albania where he scored, Rodrigo has played 1,032 minutes and has scored six goals. That is to say, that shouts Goal! once every 172 minutes or, which is almost the same, once every two games. It does not seem like a great record for the only forward who has achieved continuity (he has played 11 of the 12 matches since the World Cup in Russia) from Villa and Torres. For example, their numbers pale against those of Paco Alcácer , the Borussia de Dortmund player, who has scored, in these same two years, a goal every 36 minutes. Or before Diego Costa , owner of a success every 119 minutes. So what is Rodrigo's secret? According to the technicians of the Federation, their virtues are triggered in everything that is not visible to the naked eye.

In those details that are just for the curious eyes of the coaches. Play with a changed leg, look for diagonals from the outside in, force the defenders to do things they don't want through intelligent pressure, dizzying transitions ...

Only three goals

"It's very important for us," acknowledges Robert Moreno, who on Saturday will put him among the top three. After that convulsive summer, where he got to say goodbye to his teammates and hand over the car keys of the club because that same afternoon he was traveling to Madrid to be presented with Atlético the next day, so far he has only seen goal three times. Two scored against the Faroe Islands in September with Spain and another was the one that scored at Stamford Bridge at Chelsea in the Champions League .

However, and beyond streaks (last year he closed with 15 goals in Valencia, and the previous one with 19), in Las Rozas is one of the indisputable. It was Del Bosque who made him debut on October 12 (just five years ago) of 2014 in the first revolution after the World Cup disaster in Brazil. However, he never came back to that game against Albania in 2017. He did it with Julen Lopetegui , who also asked Florentino Pérez for the player. Madrid tried, but Valencia did not want to talk about anything other than its termination clause (120 million).

It will continue in Valencia at least until January. Simeone's name does not go out of his mind, because his bet for this year is to play whenever he can with two pure strikers. He has Costa and Morata , but he needs a third party in anticipation of injuries and penalties. And in anticipation also that Costa seems to have passed his best time. Rodrigo knows, at the same time, that the owner of Valencia wants to sell him, so the door is not closed, much less. Like that of the national team, where no forward has had the continuity that he has today.

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