Rodri loves to break the mold and give advice. When he was a teenager, growing up in the Madrid suburb of Villanueva de la Cañada, his father Antonio yelled at him to be more selfish, to score more goals. His own defender for a country club, he used to advise him: “No one remembers tackles, they only remember yellow cards and sending offs.” Rhodri didn’t listen. His comfort zone was midfield. “I can watch the game, I can read the game,” he used to say.
Years later, Pep Guardiola would instruct him: “You’re moving too much. The holding midfielder has to be there. Don’t move. Stay there.” The most divine manager in the world weighs more than an amateur footballer. He listened and spearheaded Pep’s treble-winning season and became one of the best players in the world; He became a rare player that Spanish managerial gurus depended on.
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But in Dallas, in the World Cup semi-final against France, the Spanish captain defied Pep’s advice. Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro were the goal-scorers in Spain’s 2-0 win, but Rodri wore the all-action hero’s outfit. He was there, here and everywhere. His pitch map is like green ink spread across a blank sheet, smeared from France’s box to under the Spain goalkeeper’s nose.
Still, you’ll be left scratching your head when you try to recreate its best moments. None of those long-distance screamers in the clutch hours; rasping header anything; No palpitations, no wheezing. A classical Rodrigo image is of him giving instructions, exhorting his men to maintain shape and order, exhorting them to keep calm and ride out the storm.
He does not create iconic images; He cannot be measured by numbers even though the numbers are indicative of his dominance. Stats against France: 87% pass accuracy, 15 carries, 4/4 aerial duels, 4 tackles, 2 clearances and a recovery each. His World Cup numbers are even more dazzling: most distance covered (83.47 km), most passes completed (629 with 94% accuracy) and most line-breaking passes (62).
Rodri and Lamine Yamal (19) chat as they walk through the sprinklers during the World Cup semi-final match against France. (AP)
Then he disappears from the screen. Because, he has found a pocket of space left vacant by an advancing defender; Because, there is unmanned real estate where he can man so that the forward with the ball has a passing outlet; Or there is a channel that needs reinforcement. He is a defensive screen, a support defender, a stopgap forward attack, a one-stop-solution for shape stability and shape retention. In a crisis, lacking ideas, they just go to him or just stare away. Often he understands the needs of his colleagues before they do. He is by their side before they even know he is.
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Several times in the semi-finals, when Kylian Mbappe and Pau Qubarsi battled for the ball, Rodri would be at Qubarsi’s side as an extra man and a sure figure. Mbappe, too, is wary, feeling Rodri’s personality suddenly hinders him. He lets him breathe, or anyone around him, whether it’s the attritional Marc Cuquerella fullback, or the aggressive forward Fabian Ruiz or Dani Olmo or Lamine Yamal.
With his positioning, timing and movement, he makes deep midfield control a physical art form. He makes those around him brighter, bringing out the best in everyone around him. Pep once explained: “Just his presence, not even touching the ball? The other 10 players feel safe, good. Even if he doesn’t touch the ball, they play well. It’s just the fact that he’s there.” He changes the tempo of the game, shifts back and forth like an orchestra, improvises and innovates. Guardiola will also praise his character “when the situation is wrong”.
He avoids all the limelight. He doesn’t leave a social media footprint, rarely attracts scandals, drives a humble second-hand Opel Corsa during his Villarreal days. He stayed in the university hostel to complete his degree in Business Studies and Economics. He watched as many games as possible on television to understand how football works. “When I was younger, I was more interested in understanding football than enjoying it. I was interested in how it worked. I could see that if I understood the game, I would benefit, especially at a young age when some players have this conceptual understanding,” he said. L money.
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Yet, years ago no one thought he would be such a great footballer. When Atletico Madrid scouts picked him up from local club CF Rayo Majadahonda, the club’s youth team thought he was too young to be a defensive midfielder. He was thin and not very tall. Still, they took him to the U14 team, where he wowed coach Moriko Elena with his intelligence. “He was young, but you could see that he was a boy who had vision and intelligence. He was agile. He was already able to read the game in a way that was not common for players of his age,” he told ESPN Spain.
Although schooled in the academies of Atlético and Villarreal with anti-Barcelona philosophies, his rules of football were Barcelona’s. “In 2008 I was watching Marcos Senna and Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Santi Cazorla: they imposed a winning style on the team, a style that developed and won us the World Cup,” he once said. “I watched (Sergio) Busquets especially closely. He and others set a model of play I knew I had to follow.”
Busquets, the Barcelona metronome, was his idol. However, he did not copy it blindly. But he redefined the role of the holding midfielder (even if that was an inadequate description) in his own way. His genius is that he processes his tasks in detail and which team he prefers against. He wanted to be an all-action hero against France. Although he was greatly moved by violating his guru’s advice, he became one.