Rodri's exuberant leadership at Manchester City

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"Everyone talks about Haaland, but without Rodri it wouldn't be possible. He has become our best midfielder. He has completed an imperial year," warned Pep Guardiola at the conclusion of the portentous display of football with which Manchester City eliminated Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium.

The great tactical search of the Catalan coach in his journey in Manchester has revolved around the Madrid midfielder (26 years old) since in the summer of 2019 he decided to pay the 70 million euros clause set by Atlético de Madrid. Guardiola's need to find the balance between his risky attacking bet with the ball and playing without it has made Rodri the voussoir that sustains the sophisticated City. The exuberant physical superiority with which he steals and wins the aerial duels and underneath, his security in the pass and his tactical intelligence have led him to be the only Spanish player capable of defending that he is among the three best in the world in his position.

With an uninterrupted progression, season by season, Rodri has closed all the debates that hovered over his game. First he adapted to the demanding pace and contact football of the Premier League. Afterwards, he silenced the criticism about his horizontality in the pass by raising the number and success of those who break the line. Under the demand of Guardiola and the script of his proposal, Rodri has also emerged as a very useful resource in the vicinity of the rival area. Not only to press and steal, but also as a seeker and executor of solutions when opponents sink their defense to close spaces in the last meters. Last season he scored seven goals and provided three assists. In this one, he has given seven goal passes and has scored three. In this edition of the Champions League, in addition to being the player who has given the most passes (899, with a success of 93%), he is also the one who has made the most under pressure from the opponent (681 and 92%).

"This year he has even been seen a point above in terms of personality and weight in the team. In England he is already seen as the best midfielder in the Premier League. He is seen more leader in his role and on top of that he is able to drive, filter passes and defend. For the pivots we play in that position it is a luxury to see him play," observes Oriol Romeu, who as a Southampton player until last season has followed Rodri's footsteps very closely.

"Guardiola likes to improve players and in his case it shows," says Bruno Soriano, who saw him reach Villarreal's first team and soon realized he was facing his natural successor. The same feeling that Sergio Busquets had in the Spanish national team, which did not take long to point him out as his most natural replacement. "In the first training sessions what caught my attention was that he already dominated the position and his aggressiveness to recover the ball when he was a 17-year-old boy. He did not cut himself when it came to colliding with his companions. With the ball you could see that he had a lot of potential, he was not wrong. I'm not surprised by the two games he played against Real Madrid. I've already seen performances like that at Villarreal and Atletico," Soriano said. "The position of Stones next to him frees him and the exit of the ball with three central defenders plus them two to Inter, like most teams, will cost him to pressure it," analyzes Romeu.

Erected as the unquestionable pillar on which City stands, Rodri will play his first Champions League final tonight. He was surprisingly relegated to the bench in the disputed two seasons ago, in which Chelsea prevailed with a goal from Havertz. Today's appointment contains a certain spirit of individual revenge for Rodri. Winning the Champions League will be the icing on his incessant progression.

To that lost final in which Guardiola decided to play without a midfielder was presented after signing a great year, but scarce of gasoline for his eagerness to play everything without reserving an ounce of energy. It was difficult for him to digest that substitution, but if it was a pinch of Guardiola, his response has been not to stop progressing. This season he has played 4,388 minutes spread over 55 games, 51 starts, his highest record since he debuted in the elite with Villarreal in the 2015-16 season. This time, his coach is convinced that without Rodri he could not sign a historic treble for City.

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