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Rode joinedKickers Offenbach in 2005 and played in their youth teams. In the 2008–09 season, he played in theUnder 19 Bundesliga, but was regularly training with the first team. He made his professional debut for Offenbach on 7 March 2009 in the3. Liga – the third tier of German football – againstEintracht Braunschweig.[6] He developed into a regular starter for the first team in the 2009–10 season, but only made 13 appearances, as suffered anACL injury in his right knee in September 2009.[7]
On 3 June 2010, Rode left Offenbach and joined rival teamEintracht Frankfurt, where he signed a contract until June 2014.[8] After sustainingcartilage damage in his left knee in September 2010, he missed the first half of the2010–11 season. He made hisBundesliga debut on 21 January 2011 in an 1-0 away defeat againstHamburger SV and scored his first Bundesliga goal on 23 April 2011 in a 1-1 draw at home againstFC Bayern Munich. Eintracht were relegated from the Bundesliga at the end of the season, but Rode remained with the club despite offers from other Bundesliga clubs.[9] In thefollowing season, he played 33 league games in the2. Bundesliga, scoring two goals and providing ten assists, making a significant contribution to Eintracht's second place finish and the resulting promotion back to the first division.[10]
In the2012–13 season, Rode kept his position as a regular starter, playing 33 league games. At the end of the season, Eintracht finished in sixth place and secured qualification for theEuropa League in the following season. Rode made his first appearance in an Europa League game againstQarabağ FK on 22 August 2013.[11] In total, he made five appearances in the Europa League and reached the round of 16 with his team. In February 2014, Rode suffered cartilage damage in his right knee and was ruled out until the end of the season.[12]
On 14 April 2014, Rode signed a pre-contract withBayern Munich to join them on 1 July 2014, at the end of his contract withEintracht Frankfurt.[13] He made his debut for Bayern on 13 August 2014 in a 2–0 defeat againstBorussia Dortmund in theGerman Supercup.[14] On 5 November 2014, Rode played in theChampions League for the first time in a 2-0 home win againstAS Roma, coming on as a substitute forDavid Alaba in the 81st minute. On 22 November 2014, he scored his first goal for Bayern in a 4–0 home win againstHoffenheim, scoring the final goal in the 87th minute. On 10 December 2014, Rode scored a header from a corner kick in a Champions League group stage match againstCSKA Moscow, putting Bayern up 2–0 in a match that would end 3–0 with CSKA Moscow being knocked out.[15]
During his time at Bayern, Rode won the Bundesliga title in2015 and2016 and the DFB Cup in2016, but was never able to establish himself as a regular starter.
On 6 June 2016, Rode signed a four-year contract withBorussia Dortmund.[16] On 14 August 2016, Rode made his debut in 2–0 defeat against his former team,Bayern Munich in theDFL-Supercup.[17] He scored his first goal for Dortmund on 17 September 2016 in a 6-0 win againstSV Darmstadt 98. Rode finished hisfirst season at Dortmund reaching third place in the league, with one goal in 21 league matches.[10] He also won the DFB Cup with the team, but did not make an appearance in the tournament.
Rode started the2017–18 season by losing the German Super Cup against Bayern.[18] After this game, he did not make anyBundesliga orDFB-Pokal appearances during the entire 2017–18 season due to an injury.[19][20] He returned to the pitch after a one-year break, making two appearances forBorussia Dortmund II in theRegionalliga West during the first half of the2018–19 Regionalliga season.[19] He subsequently did not make any further competitive appearances for the first team.
In the 2018–19 winter transfer window, Rode returned to Eintracht Frankfurt, initially on a loan deal until the end of the season.[21][22] Under coachAdi Hütter, he was a regular starter in the central midfield[23] and played in 20 competitive matches across all competitions until the end of the season. In the2018–19 UEFA Europa League campaign, Rode scored the decisive 2-0 goal in the quarter-final second leg againstBenfica to help Eintracht reach the semi-finals. There, the team lost toChelsea on penalties.[24] Rode did not return to Borussia Dortmund at the end of his loan contract, but instead underwent injury-related rehabilitation near Frankfurt.[25]
On 27 July 2019, Rode permanently joined Eintracht Frankfurt on a five-year deal following the successful loan spell.[26] He continued to play in Frankfurt's central midfield in the2019–20 season, during which he played 43 competitive matches and reached the round of 16 of the2019–20 UEFA Europa League and the semi-finals of theDFB-Pokal with his club. In thefollowing season, he reached the fifth place in the league with Eintracht.
Prior the start of the2021/22 season, Rode was named team captain by new head coachOliver Glasner.[27][28] Due to knee problems, the midfielder missed the first two months of the season and was then slowly reintegrated into the team as a substitute. From December 2021, he played as a starter alongsideDjibril Sow in Frankfurt's central midfield. In the2021–22 UEFA Europa League, he reached the final with Frankfurt after victories againstReal Betis,FC Barcelona andWest Ham United. On 18 May 2022, he appeared as a starter in the final againstRangers and won the title with his team on penalties.[29]
Rode announced in the summer of 2023 that he would end his playing career after the2023–24 season.[30] After appearing in just seven Bundesliga matches up to matchday 22 due to injuries, he suffered another knee injury in February 2024.[31] He was substituted by coachDino Toppmöller in the final minutes of the last match of the season againstRB Leipzig and was given a farewell at Frankfurt'sWaldstadion.[32]
^Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962].Das Aussprachewörterbuch [The Pronunciation Dictionary] (in German) (7th ed.). Berlin: Dudenverlag. pp. 739, 773.ISBN978-3-411-04067-4.
^Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009).Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch [German Pronunciation Dictionary] (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 878, 917.ISBN978-3-11-018202-6.