Cesar Rodriguez

César Rodríguez Álvarez (León, July 6, 1920 - Barcelona, March 1, 1995) was a Spanish footballer from the 40s and 50s considered one of the best players in history. from Spain.

He stood out especially as a player for the Barcelona Football Club, where he played as a center forward for 13 seasons, between 1942-55, in which he scored a total of 230 goals in 350 games (190 in the league, 36 in the Copa de Spain, 3 in the Latin Cup and 1 in the Eva Duarte Cup).

These figures made him the top scorer for F. C. Barcelona in its entire history in official matches until March 17, 2012, when Lionel Messi surpassed his mark. He is also the seventh all-time scorer in the League, and the twenty-fourth player who has worn the Barça shirt the most times, with a total of 350 official matches.

A technical striker, he stood out for his speed, his ability to shoot with both feet and his eye for goals —which distinguished him as one of the best Spanish goalscorers of all time—, and for his powerful header.

Biography

Born in León of Matrix origins from Noceda del Bierzo, he was signed by the Barcelona Football Club at the end of 1939, once the Spanish Civil War had ended, to his club of origin, the León Youth Front. Almost immediately, after playing a few friendly matches in the Ciutat de Barcelona Trophy —a friendly competition that replaced the Regional Championship of Catalonia—, he was loaned out to C.S. Sabadell F.C. However, in 1940 he had to perform compulsory military service in Granada, and he was loaned out. for Barcelona to the club from the city of La Alhambra for two seasons. César led Granada Club de Fútbol to be proclaimed champion of the Spanish Second Division and promoted to the First Division for the first time in its history.

Once back in Barcelona, in 1942, he became the starting center forward for 13 consecutive seasons, helping the club win five league titles, three Spanish Cups, three Eva Duarte Cups and two Eva Duarte Cups with his 230 goals. Latin Cups.

He was also a fundamental part of the 1949 team and the first official international title in the club's history.

In the 1948-49 season he scored 28 goals, with which he won the "pichichi" trophy for the top scorer in the championship.

He left the Catalan club in 1956 and returned to his hometown to play for Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa. He later played for the French Perpignan Football Club and ended his professional career as a player-coach at Elche Club de Fútbol. It was his first experience as technical director, a career he developed until 1976, and among which he was again CF Barcelona in 1963-64 and early 1964-65 with a total of 85 matches.

In March 2012, Argentine Lionel Messi broke his record as F. C. Barcelona's all-time top scorer in official matches.

In 1980, singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat included on the album Tal com raja the song Temps era temps, in whose chorus appears the legendary striker of the then Barcelona Football Club formed by Estanislao Basora, César, Ladislao Kubala, Tomás Moreno and Eduardo Manchón known as the "team of the five cups" (1951-52) where the Barcelona fans won the League, the Spanish Cup, the Eva Duarte Cup, the Latin Cup and the Martini&Rossi Cup.

Spanish team

He played a total of 12 matches with the national team between 1945 and 1952, in which he scored six goals. He played four times against Portugal, three against Ireland, and once against Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Turkey. The balance was five games won, three tied, and four lost.

Statistics

Clubs

Updated data to end of sports career. High seasons in quality of assignment.

He joined C. F. Barcelona at the end of 1939, a club with which he played several matches of the 1938-39 Catalonia Championship, which were declared friendlies due to the Spanish civil war that was taking place in the country and for which the tournament, called the Ciutat de Barcelona Trophy, was suspended halfway through and declared friendly. Some registries count these matches as official. In the 1958-59 and 1959-60 seasons he acted as player-coach of the Elche Club de Fútbol.

Club	Season	Div.	League (1)		Cup (2)		International (3)		Total (4)		Media Shotgun
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
Frente de Juventudes de León	1936-39	Reg?	?	?	-	-	Non-existent		?	?	?
C. S. Sabadell F. C.	1939-40	2. a	14	3	-	-	Non-existent		14	3	0.21
Grenada C. F.	1940-41	2. a	-	-	6	1	Non-existent		6	1	0.17
	1941-42	1. a	24	23	5	3	Non-existent		29	26	0.90
Total Granada C. F.			24	23	11	4	0	0	35	27	0.77
C. F. Barcelona	1942-43	1. a	23	13	8	3	Non-existent		31	16	0.52
	1943-44		26	12	4	1	Non-existent		30	13	0.43
	1944-45		24	15	4	6	Non-existent		28	21	0.75
	1945-46		26	12	2	-	Non-existent		28	12	0.43
	1946-47		25	9	4	3	Non-existent		29	12	0.41
	1947-48		19	19	2	-	Non-existent		21	19	0.90
	1948-49		24	28	5	3	2	2	31	33	1.06
	1949-50		23	17	2	3	-	-	25	20	0.80
	1950-51		27	29	7	4	-	-	34	33	0.97
	1951-52		24	21	8	5	2	1	34	27	0.79
	1952-53		27	13	5	4	-	-	32	17	0.53
	1953-54		15	2	7	5	-	-	22	7	0.32
	1954-55		4	-	1	-	-	-	5	0	0
Total C. F. Barcelona			287	190	59	37	4	3	350	230	0.66
C. D. Spain Industrial	1954-55	2. a	9	8	-	-	-	-	9	8	0.89
Cultural Leonesa	1955-56	1. a	15	3	-	-	-	-	15	3	0.20
Perpignan F. C.	1956-57	2. a	13	4	-	-	-	-	13	4	0.31
Elche C. F.	1957-58	3. a	12?	25?	-	-	-	-	0+	0+	0
	1958-59	2. a	28	4	4	2	-	-	32	6	0.19
	1959-60	1. a	27	5	9	6	-	-	36	11	0.31
Total Elche C. F.			55+	9+	13	8	0	0	80?	42?	0.53
Total career			417+	240+	83	49	4	3	504+	292+	0.58
(1) The goals that proclaimed him the highest scorer of the championship were lifted. (2) Includes data from the Spanish Cup (1940-60): Eva Duarte Cup (1948-49 and 1951-52). Promotion of promotion (1940-41). (3) It includes data from the Latin Cup (1948-49 and 1951-52). (4) It does not include goals in friendly matches.

Coach

Club	Country	Year
Elche CF	Spain	1959 - 1960
Real Zaragoza		1960 - 1963
F. C. Barcelona		1963 - 1964
RCD Mallorca		1965 - 1966
Vigo Celt		1966 - 1967
Real Betis Balompié		1967
Real Zaragoza		1968 - 1969
Hercules CF		1969 - 1971
RCD Mallorca		1973 - 1975
Anointed Sant Andreu		1975 - 1976

Titles

National tournaments

Title	Club	Country	Year
League Championship	F. C. Barcelona	Spain	1945
League Championship			1948
League Championship			1949
Eva Duarte Cup			1949
League Championship			1952
Eva Duarte Cup			1952
League Championship			1953
Eva Duarte Cup			1953
Cup			1951
Cup			1952
Cup			1953

International tournaments

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
Latin Cup	F. C. Barcelona	Madrid	1949
Latin Cup		Paris	1952

Individual awards