- The striker scored both goals in Montevideo City Torque’s victory over Tigre and helped secure the best international campaign in the club’s history.
- After a difficult season with Colo Colo, he returned to Uruguay and became the ‘Ciudadano’s’ leading scorer in the 2026 CONMEBOL Sudamericana.
Salomón Rodríguez waited for the goalkeeper to commit, adjusted his body and finished with the composure of a player who had rediscovered his best form. His goal against Tigre did more than set Montevideo City Torque on course for another victory at the Estadio Centenario: it also encapsulated the personal journey of a striker who needed to return to Uruguay to find his best version again.
The move came in the 39th minute of the first half, when Marcelo Méndez’s side had already begun to find spaces behind the visitors’ defensive line. Rodríguez found himself through on goal and finished precisely to make it 1-0. Ten minutes later, from the penalty spot, he effectively sealed the night with a left-footed strike after Tigre had briefly drawn level.
His contributions proved crucial in controlling a tie that had begun with a 1-0 victory in Argentina. City Torque went on to win the return leg 2-1, sealing a 3-1 aggregate triumph and reaching the Quarter-finals of a CONMEBOL competition for the first time. On a night that added another chapter to the club’s young international history, their centre-forward once again played a decisive role.
Rodríguez’s current form stands in sharp contrast to what he experienced during 2025. His arrival at Colo Colo for the club’s centenary season generated major expectations, but the Uruguayan was unable to find the continuity or efficiency he had shown in previous spells. He ended that period with three goals in 26 appearances and left on loan at the beginning of 2026 in search of an environment that would allow him to rebuild his confidence.
Montevideo City Torque proved to be the ideal destination. Returning to Uruguayan football gave him minutes, prominence and a renewed presence close to goal. Rodríguez re-established himself as the team’s attacking focal point and found a side capable of enhancing his main qualities: holding off defenders, attacking space and becoming the final target of collective moves.
His resurgence also took on a continental dimension. He opened his CONMEBOL Sudamericana account with a header against Palestino in Chile, scored again in the emphatic win over Deportivo Riestra and found the net in Porto Alegre against Grêmio. Those three goals made him City Torque’s leading scorer at the end of the Group Stage. Against Tigre, he added two more and carried his influence into the knockout rounds.
At 26, his career still has plenty of chapters left to write. Once his loan spell ends, he will once again have to decide his future, but the outlook is no longer the same as when he left Chile. His season with City Torque has allowed him to rebuild his confidence and become decisive again: “Marcelo Méndez’s call was fundamental in bringing me back to Uruguayan football, as was the confidence he showed in me to help me enjoy this good run and score goals. I became the player I used to be again. Sometimes you need a change of scenery. Returning to Uruguay did me a lot of good: it helped me refresh, regain confidence and become the player I was before,” he said in May.
The ‘Ciudadano’ will face the winner of the tie between Cienciano and Botafogo in the Quarter-finals. As they prepare for the biggest international challenge in the club’s history, they will have an in-form striker leading the line.
