History in Short

Goldberg’s Maccabi Tel Aviv Telenovela began in 1997/98 when the striker arrived in Israel from Universidad de Chile, one of the top clubs in Chile. In 13 appearances for his country’s national team, Goldberg record 4 goals and came to Kiryat Shalom full of confidence to help the Yellow & Blue. However after only half a season the striker was loaned back to his native Chile, until one day during the 2000/01 season when he received a phone call telling him to return to Israel.

Nir Levin began following Goldberg as he played for Maccabi’s reserve team. He finally made his way all the way back to the first team just in time for the Derby against Hapoel and scored the match’s first goal.

From there, Goldberg played three more seasons with Maccabi making 129 appearances while scoring 45 goals.

Career Highlights and awards

Championships (1): 2002/03
State Cup (2): 2000/01, 2001/02

Top moment

If there was one thing that Goldberg loved, there’s no question that it was the Derby. The Chilean scored many Derby goals but the most famous and important marker was in the 2002/03 Derby. On Matchday 22, the Yellow & Blue had to face Hapoel just a week after falling to Bnei Yehuda. With the threat of losing two games in a row and the Championship race looming over their heads, plus a 3:1 loss in the first Derby of the season, everyone’s nerves were a bit rattled around Kiryat Shalom.

Over 37,000 fans filled the Ramat Gan Stadium and after 22 minutes Rodrigo Goldberg sent the Maccabi faithful into pandemonium. Andreas Prohonenkovs broke down the right wing and crossed the ball over Bruno Reis right to Goldberg’s feet. The Chilean stopped the ball cold and sent it past Shavit Elimelech and into the back of the goal. The score stood up until the final whistle as Maccabi went on to win the league title.