Salomon Rondon is one of the good guys.
Another reminder of this came on Saturday, when Rondon and his Newcastle teammates secured a 3-0 win over Cardiff City at St James’ Park.
His side leading through the first of Fabian Schar’s double, the Venezuelan attempted a shot with little over half an hour still to play. His effort was blocked by the face of Cardiff’s Joe Bennett, enough to send the left-back to the deck.
The ball rebounded back into Rondon’s path, but having glanced back in the direction of Bennett to see him lying on the floor, the striker thought better of having a second shot or trying to square the ball for a teammate.
Instead, he opted to kick the ball behind for a Cardiff goal kick, a lovely show of sportsmanship.
Schar would later add his second before Ayoze Perez scored Newcastle’s third and final goal of the game in stoppage time. Rondon’s sporting display, however, were up there with the goals as one of the game’s major talking points. Some compared it to the time Paolo Di Canio famously caught a ball instead of shooting while playing for West Ham so that Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard could receive treatment for an injury.
Last season, Rondon, then of West Brom, was visibly upset after inadvertently breaking the leg of Everton’s James McCarthy at Goodison Park. Many Evertonians praised him for the genuine concern he showed after the incident and the way he alerted the referee so that play could be stopped.
Only last month, Rondon broke down in tears when speaking about McCarthy’s leg break during an interview.
