Pedro's Instinct

Footballers all tend to have some unique feature which best describes their style of play, or even personality! Maradona is a dribbler, Luiz Ronaldo is a finisher, while David Beckham is a set piece taker. There is one player however, who's style of play is very difficult to understand. That player is Pedro Rodriguez of Barcelona. Now many people disregard him as a star player, which is very unfair, as he has achieved in 2 short years what many players try in a lifetime. A World Cup winner with Spain, 2 Spanish League Titles, A Champions League winner, a Copa Del Rey, and a Club World Cup.

Pedro's style of play does not set stadiums a light, in fact, he is virtually synonymous during games, which begs the question why he is so often picked for Barcelona and Spain, especially for the latter of which he is ahead of Fernando Torres in the set-up.

Even when Pedro has a bad game, he tends to pop out of nowhere to score a goal. He has grabbed 19 goals in the last 21 games he's played in, and therein lies his true quality. Not goalscoring, but being at the right place at the right time. An avid Barcelona follower can tell you of Pedro's impeccable positioning. He is always first to score from rebounds, and is always in a fantastic position to receive a Xavi pass towards goal. Pedro is one of the best players at anticipating the ball today, and young people can learn a lot from his movements, especially his maneuvering around Real Madrid's defense when he scored at the Bernabeu in 2010, and for his goal against them again during the famous 5-0 victory.

He is also lucky in a sense that since he is involved in a three-pronged attack including Messi and Villa, opposition defenders might not give him too much attention, therefore allowing him to get into goalscoring positions unnoticed. If you notice Pedro's last goal against Hercules, all the defenders were on the side of the pitch that had Messi and Villa, while Pedro was all alone. Pedro had time to receive the ball, and he took his opportunity well by scoring.

I guess the answer to what Pedro is would be that he has a unique footballing instinct which defines him from the rest.

Jassim