Pedro (footballer, born 1987)


Pedro Eliezer Rodríguez Ledesma, known as Pedro, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for club Chelsea and the Spain national team.
Pedro scored 99 goals in 320 appearances across all competitions for Barcelona from 2008 to 2015, before joining Chelsea in 2015. He has won 26 major honours, including five La Liga titles and the UEFA Champions League three times. During the 2009–10 season, he became the first player in history to score in six different official club competitions in one season.
Pedro represented Spain in two World Cups and two European Championships, winning once in each tournament.

Club career

Early years

Born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Pedro joined FC Barcelona's youth team at the age of 17, having arrived from local side CD San Isidro.

Barcelona

Pedro was a key player for FC Barcelona B, as the team achieved promotion from Tercera División, making 37 appearances and scoring seven goals. On 12 January 2008, he made his debut for the first team, playing one minute in a 4–0 home win against Real Murcia, but would only amass seven more in his first two seasons combined.

2008–10: Development and breakthrough

Pedro was a part of the first team's 2008–09 pre-season, and showed early promise, scoring against Hibernian and the New York Red Bulls respectively. On 13 August, he started in a 4–0 win against Wisła Kraków for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. His first match on the group stage of that competition was on 16 September, when he replaced Thierry Henry in a 3–1 home win over Sporting Clube de Portugal.
In Barcelona's treble-winning season in 2008–09, Pedro eventually totalled 14 matches, also appearing in La Liga against Getafe CF, Valencia CF, Real Valladolid and CA Osasuna, totalling 365 minutes. In the campaign's Copa del Rey, he played against Benidorm CF and Atlético Madrid, on both occasions for Lionel Messi; in the Champions League final, he played the last minute in the place of Andrés Iniesta.
In 2009–10, manager Pep Guardiola confirmed that Pedro would be definitely promoted to Barcelona's first team, and he responded with a breakthrough year, during which he became the first player to score in six different club competitions during a single season and in the same year. On 16 August, after assisting Xavi with the first goal, he scored his first competitive goal for the first team in the 67th minute, helping to ensure a 2–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in San Mamés for the domestic Supercup. Later that week, he signed his professional contract, running until June 2014 with a buyout clause set at £60 million; in the 2009 UEFA Super Cup against FC Shakhtar Donetsk, he came on as a substitute for Zlatan Ibrahimović in the 80th minute, and went on to net the only goal of the match in extra time.
On 28 September, Pedro scored his first goal in the Champions League, after replacing Iniesta at half-time in a 2–0 win against FC Dynamo Kyiv. He continued his hot streak and netted his first in the league, against UD Almería, with a brilliant strike that sealed the 1–0 home triumph; the following month he grabbed a brace in the first leg of the Spanish Cup round-of-32 match at Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, for a 2–0 win.
More and more established in Barcelona's starting lineups, Pedro went on to score another brace in the league, in a 4–2 win against RCD Mallorca. He would continue his scoring touch in the Champions League, netting one of two against Inter Milan.
during the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup
On 16 December, Pedro scored a goal in the semi-final of the FIFA Club World Cup against Atlante FC, in 3–1 win. In doing so, he became the first player ever to score in six different club competitions in one season – the three domestic tournaments, the UEFA Champions League and Super Cup and the Club World Cup. He was later named World Player of the Week by Goal.com after his performances against RCD Espanyol, Atlante and Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina, respectively.
In an emotional return to his hometown team of CD Tenerife, on 10 January 2010, Pedro came on as a 76th-minute substitute, later helping to Ezequiel Luna's own goal in a 5–0 win – out of respect, he chose not to celebrate. On 10 April, he netted the second goal in a 2–0 win against Real Madrid, in his first appearance in El Clásico.
On 14 April, in a league match against Deportivo de La Coruña, opposing goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia attempted to clear the ball from the top of the 16-yard box, and instead kicked the ball right to Pedro, who shot at goal from 40 yards with his left foot and scored, giving Barça a 2–0 lead in an eventual 3–0 win. He also found the net in a 3–1 defeat in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, against Inter at the San Siro.
In the last three league matches, Pedro scored for Barcelona, with the Catalans eventually renewing their league supremacy: against Tenerife again, the 3–2 winner at Sevilla FC and against Valladolid. He completed the 2009–10 season with 53 appearances in all competitions and 23 goals, and, on 9 June, signed a new five-year deal with Barcelona.

2010–14: Consistent collective success

Pedro began the 2010–11 campaign firmly established in Barcelona's starting XI. On 29 November 2010, he scored the second goal in a 5–0 home win against Real Madrid, with Barça climbing to the first position in the league. The following month, he netted twice at Espanyol in the local derby, in a 5–1 success.
On 20 April 2011, Pedro scored against Real Madrid in the second half of the season's Spanish Cup final, but his goal was disallowed for offside, in an eventual 0–1 extra time loss. On 3 May, against the same opponent, in the Champions League semi-finals second leg, he found Iker Casillas' net in a 1–1 home draw, for his 21st official goal of the campaign; in the Champions League final, he opened the score against Manchester United, in an eventual 3–1 win.
On 5 July 2011, Pedro extended his contract by one year, until 2016. His buyout clause was raised from €90m to €150m. After the purchase of Alexis Sánchez, he featured less during 2011–12, he did finish the season with 13 official goals, scoring a brace in the campaign's domestic cup final, a 3–0 win against Athletic Bilbao.
On 21 September 2013, Pedro scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 success at Rayo Vallecano. On 22 December, in another away fixture, he added another three – all in the first half and only nine minutes – to help Barcelona come from behind 0–2 and eventually win 5–2 over Getafe.

2014–15: Treble and final season

On 16 December 2014, Pedro scored another hat-trick, this time in second leg of Round of 32 in Copa del Rey against Huesca, with Barcelona who recorded an 8–1 victory at Camp Nou.
On 4 June 2015, Barcelona's official website announced that Pedro had renewed his contract until 30 June 2019. His buyout clause would remain at €150 million.
On 6 June 2015, Pedro appeared as an added-time substitute for Barça in the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final, as the club won its fifth European Cup/Champions League title by beating Juventus at Berlin's Olympiastadion. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Pedro, Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves are the only players to have been a part of both treble-winning teams.
As an extra-time substitute, Pedro scored the winning goal as Barcelona won the 2015 UEFA Super Cup 5–4 against Sevilla in Tbilisi; it was his second winner in a Super Cup, and came in the 115th minute like its predecessor.

Chelsea

2015–16: Debut season

On 20 August 2015, Pedro joined Premier League champions Chelsea on a four-year contract for £19 million, potentially rising to £21.4 million depending on performances. Three days after signing, he made his debut away to West Bromwich Albion, scoring the first goal of a 3–2 win, Chelsea's first victory of their season, and provided an assist for the second goal, scored by his international teammate Diego Costa. On 19 December, Pedro scored the second goal in a 3–1 win against Sunderland, his first at Stamford Bridge. On 13 February, Pedro scored a brace in a 5–1 victory over Newcastle United, and again on 2 April in a 4–0 win over Aston Villa.

2016–18: League and UEFA Europa League wins

On 1 July 2016, it was announced that Pedro would switch to the number 11 shirt at Chelsea, vacated by the loan expiration of Alexandre Pato. On 20 August 2016, Pedro made his first start of the season in an away match against Watford, after it was announced that Willian was out with an injury. Pedro then came off the bench to get an assist for Victor Moses in a 3–0 win over Burnley on 27 August. On 23 October 2016, Pedro scored the fastest goal of the season as in the first 30 seconds, he scored the opener of a 4–0 victory over Manchester United. He also defended Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, who was reportedly accused by Manchester United manager José Mourinho of trying to humiliate United with his actions on the touchline in the closing stages of the game. On 5 November 2016, Pedro scored the last goal and assisted two others in a 5–0 drubbing of Everton at Stamford Bridge. On 26 November 2016, Pedro scored the equaliser for Chelsea right before half-time in a 2–1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. The goal eventually won Premier League Goal of the Month for November.
On 11 August 2018, he scored his first league goal of the season in a 3–0 win at Huddersfield Town. On his 150th Chelsea appearance, Pedro scored the club's 1000th Premier League goal at Stamford Bridge, opening the scoring in a 2–0 win against West London rival Fulham. He netted a brace and had a hand in two more to help the Blues through to the Europa League semi-finals at the expense of Slavia Praha at Stamford Bridge on 18 April. Chelsea won 4–3 on the night and 5–3 on aggregate. On 29 May, Pedro scored in Chelsea's 4–1 win over Arsenal in the Europa League final; as a result, he became the fifth player to score in a European Cup/Champions League and UEFA Cup/Europa League final, after Allan Simonsen, Dmitri Alenichev, Hernán Crespo, and Steven Gerrard.

2019–20: Final season and departure

On 8 March 2020, Pedro scored his first league goal of the season in the win over Everton. He had been scoreless in the Premier League for more than a year, with the previous goal dated back to 27 February 2019.
On 26 July 2020, Frank Lampard has confirmed Pedro will leave Chelsea after the FA Cup final and Champions League fixtures. He also announced his departure from the club on Twitter.

International career

On 20 May 2010, Pedro was included by Vicente del Bosque in Spain's 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Nine days later, he made his debut in a 3–2 friendly win against Saudi Arabia, replacing David Silva for the final 30 minutes in Innsbruck, Austria. On 8 June, in the last exhibition game prior to the finals in South Africa, with Poland, Pedro scored his first international goal, and also assisted Fernando Torres in a 6–0 victory at Murcia's Estadio Nueva Condomina.
In the final stages, he appeared in five matches : on 7 July, in the semi-final against Germany, he started in place of Torres, who had been performing poorly in earlier matches. In the 82nd minute, with Spain leading 1–0, he attempted to score a goal himself rather than set up an unmarked Torres, although he performed well in the game. Despite this error, he was selected to start in the final, with the national team winning 1–0 against the Netherlands; at the hour-mark, he was replaced by Jesús Navas.
Pedro was part of the Spanish squad which successfully defended their continental crown at UEFA Euro 2012, coming on as a substitute in each of their knockout round matches, including the final where he replaced Silva in the 59th minute of an eventual 4–0 win over Italy.
Pedro scored the first hat-trick of his professional career on 12 October 2012, netting after a Jordi Alba strike in an eventual 4–0 away win over Belarus for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

Style of play

A quick, versatile, and intelligent two–footed forward, Pedro usually plays as a left winger, although he is capable of playing on either flank, as well as in several other positions in both attack and midfield; he has often been used on the right flank with the Spanish national team. A diminutive player, he is known for his pace, balance, technique, defensive work-rate, and his ability to score and create goals, courtesy of his finishing ability, passing, crossing, and link-up play.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
18 June 2010Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain36–06–0Friendly
27 June 2011José Antonio Anzoátegui, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela132–03–0Friendly
37 September 2012Pasarón, Pontevedra, Spain19
2–0
5–0
Friendly
47 September 2012Pasarón, Pontevedra, Spain19
5–0
5–0
Friendly
512 October 2012Dynama Stadium, Minsk, Belarus21
2–0
4–0
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
612 October 2012Dynama Stadium, Minsk, Belarus21
3–0
4–0
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
712 October 2012Dynama Stadium, Minsk, Belarus21
4–0
4–0
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
814 November 2012Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama23
1–0
5–1
Friendly
914 November 2012Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama23
3–0
5–1
Friendly
106 February 2013Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar24
2–1
3–1
Friendly
116 February 2013Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar24
3–1
3–1
Friendly
1226 March 2013Stade de France, Paris, France261–01–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
1316 June 2013Arena Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil281–02–12013 FIFA Confederations Cup
145 March 2014Vicente Calderón, Madrid, Spain381–01–0Friendly
158 September 2014Ciutat de València, Valencia, Spain445–15–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
1615 November 2014Estadio Nuevo Colombino, Huelva, Spain473–03–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
1729 May 2016AFG Arena, St. Gallen, Switzerland563–13–1Friendly

Honours

Barcelona B
Barcelona
Chelsea
Spain
Individual