In soccer, many people will focus on the top scorer or the work put in by the goalkeeper or the defense. This is due to the fact that many of the stats that people look at are goals or goals conceded. For Monarcas Morelia two key figures that have stood out are Raul Ruidiaz who had nine goals this Clausura and Sebastian Sosa who has been a seemingly unstoppable goalkeeper who just shutout Club Tijuana.
Midfielders will often get lost in the shadows of other players because the stats they put in are not clearly reflective of the scoreboard. The Liga MX has a wealth of talented midfielders who are monumental for their teams; some of the biggest names being Guido Pizarro for Xolos and Guido Rodriguez for Tigres.
The heart and soul of Morelia’s midfield this season has been the 35-year-old Rodrigo Millar. The Chilean has been with La Monarquia since 2015 and has been in the Liga MX since 2013. Millar has never been a player that has made headlines but has been a consistent player for several tournaments now. In the Clausura 2017, Millar stood out and had some amazing stats controlling the midfield for Roberto Hernandez. The Chilean does play more of a creative midfielder role with Aldo Rocha being the more defensive player in the midfield duo that Roberto Hernandez does implement.
The 35-year-old finished the tournament with no goals and only one assist playing in 16 games. Millar’s value came in more than the conventional stats, being one of the busiest midfielders in the Liga MX with 1,060 total touches of the sphere. Millar finished in fifth place in the league in completed passes and received passes with 828 completed passes and 779 received passes. The Chilean controlled the midfield and his distribution was one of the key aspects of his game this season. Millar was also very accurate with his passes landing an 86.9-percent pass accuracy good for seventh in the Liga MX.
For his age, the naturalized Mexican player did cover a lot of distance as well, covering 149.7 kilometers in the Clausura tournament, an average of 9.9 kilometers per game. Millar was a complete midfielder this season and even helped defensively having recovered the ball 241 times. The Chilean was a very hard working player and was a major contributor to Morelia’s success. The 35-year-old had a solid game against Club Tijuana in Morelia’s 1-0 win against the border city side and it will be interesting to see how much longer Monarcas Morelia can thrive in the Liga MX playoffs.
