Diego Rubio grew up in Chile, joining Universidad Catolica's academy at just 12 years old. He made a move to his boyhood club, Colo-Colo, before playing for Sporting CP and Real Valladolid. In 2016, Valladolid loaned Rubio to Sporting Kansas City as a DP striker. In that first season, he played just 330 minutes and started on three occasions. He did, though, score his first MLS goal on April 27th in a 1-1 draw with Vancouver. While that was his only MLS goal in 2016, he made contributions in both the US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League. Unfortunately, Rubio suffered a torn ACL in training on October 14, 2016, forcing him to miss the next 26 games.
He returned from injury in June of 2017, gradually working himself back into the team. In his first start since the injury, he scored a US Open Cup goal against FC Tulsa. In his first MLS start of 2017 two weeks later, he scored again. Rubio gathered himself, teed it up, and smashed a pretty shot to open his account against Philadelphia. His next MLS goal came about a week later as he crashed the box on a corner and volleyed it home against FC Dallas. On September 16th, Diego Rubio scored multiple goals in an MLS match for the first time. The first goal against New England came right at the stroke of halftime, as he slid at the back post to finish Gerso's cross. The second goal was perhaps the easiest goal of his career, a rebound off the post fell to him on the goal line, where he could've cooked dinner and still had time to score. Rubio also played an important role in Kansas City's 2017 US Open Cup victory, he played 82 minutes in the final against the New York Red Bulls.
Rubio did not make many starts in his Sporting Kansas City career, he started just nine in 2018. He made 20 appearances, but just 781 minutes, which is equivalent to 26% of SKC's season. Keep that in mind when thinking about the numbers he posted in 2018. He scored 8 goals and assisted 6 on the season. In other words, this means he scored at just about a goal per 90 minute pace, and contributed to a goal every 56 minutes. Those are some impressive efficiency numbers. In the 91st minute of a March match against his future club, Colorado, he equalized the match at 2. On June 23rd against Houston, Rubio scored an 85' equalizer just 23 seconds after entering the game through a beautiful passage of play. He then assisted the game-winner three minutes later. The guy simply made things happen when he was on the pitch. Rubio terrorized Houston again come August, with a match-winning 74' goal. Two matches later, he unleashed his attacking ability on the Portland Timbers. He scored his second MLS brace. The first goal was a well-hit driven low strike, the second a cool finish at the penalty spot. He followed that match up with a goal in each of the next two games as well. The stretch between July 7th-September 15th saw Rubio shatter the SKC club record of matches in a row with a goal contribution, with eight. He scored twice in the playoffs, but fell to Portland.
On December 18th, 2018, the Colorado Rapids acquired Diego Rubio from Sporting Kansas City in exchange for Kelyn Rowe, $200K GAM, and $100K TAM. For the first time in his MLS career, Rubio played over 20 matches in a season in 2019. Boy, was Rubio's first Rapids goal sweet. As if it were scripted this way, he managed to open his account in Colorado against the team that traded him months prior, SKC. An absolute blunder from Tim Melia gifted Rubio a goal thanks to the high press. He actually didn't score again until June, but he couldn't stop scoring all summer. His header on June 1st squeaked in to beat FC Cincinnati 3-1. On the 22nd of the month, he scored another header on a corner kick at the back post to help draw 2-2 at Vancouver. On July 4th, in a match that had three weather delays, the 5'10 Rubio scored on a header once again. It was a tough night losing 2-1 to New England and having the postgame fireworks canceled. In a July 27th loss at San Jose, Rubio scored a consolation goal in one of the strangest manners the sport has seen, through a wicked deflection. He would then add goals in each of the next two matches. After taking a one-game break from scoring, he registered a brace against Houston. At the season's end, he finished with 11 goals and 5 assists in his first season with the Rapids.
In 2020, Rubio scored 3 goals with 4 assists during the season in which every single player's stats plummeted due to a lack of matches. He made MLS Team of the Week twice during the 2020 MLS season, including a Week 24 brace against Real Salt Lake. Colorado would lose in the first round of the playoffs. The next season, the Rapids were the shock of the league. It barely felt like it by the season's end, but Colorado won the Western Conference regular season. Rubio scored 5 goals, 3 of them being game winners. The most impressive of the bunch was an absolute peach of a free kick to beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 in early May. Despite the successful regular season, there wasn't a ton of optimism for the #1 seed. They lost in their first match against Portland following their first-round bye, as did the #1 in the East (New England).
After a bunch of years of extremely solid production, Diego Rubio simply broke out in 2022. He scored 5 more goals than he ever had in a season previously and set a career-high in assists as well. Through August 13th, Rubio had scored 12 goals in the 22 matches up to that point, without a single multi-goal game. He scored in the majority of games he played, scattering single goals across many games. While the goals did not come as consistently and often for the final stretch of the season during the fall months, Rubio was still effective. At the end of the 2022 campaign, he scored 16 goals in 16 separate matches, never scoring an even a brace. Fast forward to the current season, where Rubio has battled with injuries. He missed the first few weeks following knee surgery. After returning, he has struggled with ankle injuries across the middle parts of the season. Luckily, he is finally healthy and has played about 75 minutes in each of the last two matches. Colorado's playoffs aspirations are long gone at this point, but it would be good to see Rubio get back to doing what he does best, scoring goals. Rubio comes in at #92.
YEAR | CLUB | MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS |
2023 | COL | 753* | 1* | 3* |
2022 | COL | 2,445 | 16 | 7 |
2021 | COL | 1,660 | 5 | 6 |
2020 | COL | 1,040 | 3 | 4 |
2019 | COL | 2,065 | 11 | 5 |
2018 | SKC | 781 | 8 | 6 |
2017 | SKC | 1,010 | 6 | 2 |
2016 | SKC | 330 | 1 | 0 |
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