Rodri doesn’t like the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Nothing to do with the aesthetic (we don’t think), it’s his record there that bothers him.
In the Premier League, played four, lost three, won one. Ballon d’Or winners don’t tend to lose many games, so to post three straight defeats versus the same team in the same stadium is unusual.
“Some teams are the worst for you," Rodri explained to FourFourTwo, before Tottenham's 4-0 drubbing of City, in an exclusive one-on-one interview in Madrid where he's been rehabbing his injured knee. "Tottenham for us. When they had Harry Kane, Son and Lucas Moura, they had the perfect way to play against us.
Why can't I beat Spurs?
“I never won there – last season was the first time. I thought, ‘Why is it so tricky?’, but sometimes it’s like this.” After parading his cherished Ballon d’Or to the Manchester City crowd before their game at the weekend, the sense of deja vu must have been palpable.
“Last season was such a tough season,” Rodri says, remembering how Arsenal pushed City all the way. “If you want to win the Premier League, normally it goes to the last day, and we really played to our limit and gave everything. Maybe that’s why we didn’t perform well in the FA Cup final, because in the last two games, we left everything on the pitch.
“That showed the mentality of the team, though – we won for all these years, but we had the desire to go again until the last day. Of course, people expect us to win again this year, then again. It’s not easy, but we’ll be there, we’ll fight and the team will show character.”
They are missing their best player though, that much is true. But specifically, what is it that the team are currently missing while their midfielder recovers from an ACL injury? It makes sense to ask the man himself.
“You’re the guy who ensures everything works," he says, when asked to explain how he sees his own role on the pitch for club and country. "You don’t have a specific thing to do, you just have a lot of things to do. It’s about leadership and understanding the game.”
Rodri has played centre-back as well of course, at the 2022 World Cup, and defenders have joined him in midfield at City. So which is more difficult?
“It’s more difficult to do what John Stones has done, Joao Cancelo in the past or Manuel Akanji when he’s played that role," he says. "In midfield, we’re used to looking 360, being surrounded by players.
“Defend, attack, it’s the most complete part of the field. At centre-back, you just have players in front of you – it’s more chilled with the ball. I tell the centre-backs, ‘Your job with the ball is so easy!’ It’s demanding without the ball though – the positioning is very tricky.
“When I played there at the World Cup, I’d watch clips of centre-backs, how they behaved, everything. You have to look at the people who really know that role.”