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“The best holding midfielders don’t appear on the front pages of newspapers,” said Pep Guardiola in February 2021. “They hide behind the team, but when the team plays well it is because they are outstanding.” The Manchester City coach was referring to Rodri, who had only been in his side for one-and-a-half seasons at the time.
Those quotes came shortly after a rare fallow period for City, who had been left way behind Liverpool in the previous season’s title race and had made a poor start to the 2020-21 campaign, dropping 16 points from their first 12 games. But they had since got back to their irresistible best, securing a 10th consecutive league win by thrashing Liverpool 4-1 at Anfield. And Rodri had been a key reason why.
Guardiola valued his work, but at the time the Spaniard’s influence on City was understated. Indeed, Guardiola perhaps did not fully appreciate him either, as he left the Rodri on the bench for the Champions League final defeat by Chelsea at the end of that campaign.
But fast-forward almost four years and Rodri has been on the front pages of newspapers around the world. He might not get the same level of praise as team-mates Erling Haaland or Phil Foden, but his influence on Manchester City and Spain is now universally appreciated.
He does not “hide behind the team”, he is front of centre for club and country and last season won two of the most prestigious prizes in football, the Premier League title with City and the European Championship with Spain. Now it’s time for him to get the true recognition he deserves by winning the Ballon d’Or.
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GettySerious contender
Rodri was a serious contender for the 2023 Ballon d’Or, and he would well have deserved it after winning the treble with City and scoring the only goal in the Champions League final over Inter, the perfect response to being benched in Porto two years previously.
But his contribution was somewhat overshadowed by Haaland’s 52 goals in 53 games, meaning he was not even the highest-ranked City player, coming in fifth while the Norwegian came second.
Lionel Messi secured his eighth Ballon d’Or instead as he was still enjoying his year-long lap of honour for winning the World Cup with Argentina. Messi’s iron grip on the award should, however, finally be over now, even with Argentina winning the Copa America, and it’s time for Rodri to take his crown.
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Getty74 games unbeaten
Rodri’s contribution to the treble does not count towards this year’s Ballon d’Or, which is judged on achievements in the 2023-24 season and summer tournaments. But that matters little as he was in even better form last season.
He ended the Premier League campaign without losing a single game, with all three of City’s defeats coming when he was suspended. The last time he lost a league match was all the way back in February 2023.
Rodri also didn’t lose a Champions League game last season, with City being eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals on penalties after two draws. The only match he was defeated in was the FA Cup final against Manchester United, which ended a record-breaking unbeaten run with City, lasting 74 games in all competitions and 475 days.
It did not spoil his season though, as City secured an incredible fourth-consecutive league crown, the first team to do so in 135 years of English football. Haaland was still City’s top scorer and Foden was just behind him on his way to being named Premier League Player of the Season, but Rodri’s contribution to this historic achievement was equally important.
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GettyIncreased attacking output
Rodri’s game has never been about goals and assists, and yet he struck eight times over the league season, including in City’s first game of the season at Burnley and in their title-clinching victory against West Ham. He set up a further nine goals, too.
He contributed to 17 Premier League goals in total, two more than Bernardo Silva and three more than Kevin De Bruyne, accounting for 17 percent of City’s total output. It made him the 21st-biggest contributor to goals in the league, and we cannot stress this enough: He is a holding midfielder.
Rodri’s main role was to guide City through games and he did that to perfection, running the show from the first whistle to the last. It was no coincidence that they lost all three of the matches he missed between September and October after getting sent off against Nottingham Forest for putting his hands around Morgan Gibbs-White’s neck.
That game led to a very rare rebuke from Guardiola, who urged his player to learn to “control himself and his emotions”. Rodri took that on board, and if there was a word to describe his effect on City over the past five years, it is ‘control’.
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Getty ImagesDictating everything
Take what Luton Town’s captain Tom Lockyer said after facing Rodri. Luton’s game with City last December would prove to be Lockyer’s last before suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch against Bournemouth just six days later, but he spoke glowingly of coming up against the ex-Atletico Madrid man, even though City had come from behind to beat his side 2-1.
‘Rodri… Honestly that guy man, it’s just a joy to share the football pitch with him. You don’t say that about a lot of players, but he was certainly one of them where you come off the pitch and you’re like ‘wow’,” Lockyer told BBC Radio Five Live.
“He’s literally just a Rolls Royce, he was just controlling the midfield, he dictated everything, everything went through him. When you thought you had him pressed and you were gonna nick the ball, he was just teasing you in, so his next pass had more time on the ball. The types of games he plays, it’s very rare he gets caught on the ball, he dictates everything Man City try and do.”
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Getty‘Give him the Ballon d’Or now’
Lockyer was far from alone in being enthralled by the Spaniard. Guardiola called him “the best midfield player in the world, by far” in March.
“The highlights have to belong to other people,” the Catalan added. “The holding midfielder has to think for the rest of the team and does not expect the recognition. But internally? All team-mates and staff, they all know how important and decisive he is. Massively important for us.”
Rodri’s international manager Luis de la Fuente described Rodri as “a perfect computer, who administers everything, the emotions, all the moments in a magisterial way” during Spain’s thrilling European Championship campaign.
And after La Roja beat England in the final despite Player of the Tournament Rodri being forced off injured at half-time, De La Fuente went one step further than Guardiola, calling the midfielder “the best player in the world”. That statement was followed by a plea: “Please, give him the Ballon d’Or now!”
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GettyAllowing others to thrive
The football world should listen up and give the sport’s biggest individual award to a defensive midfielder for the first time since Matthias Sammer in 1996. For far too long football has ignored the midfield lynchpins, the players who make everything tick, in favour of the goal-scorers and flair players.
But if it weren’t for the likes of Rodri, City and Spain’s best attackers would not be able to thrive as they do. “He’s the one who allows De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva to do what they do because he’s so good,” former City forward Paul Dickov said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Rodri also allows Haaland to roam the box in search of goals, while his selfless work also provided a platform for Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal to fly for Spain and fire La Roja to their first major trophy in 12 years.
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GettyListen to De La Fuente
Rodri himself is uninterested in individual awards. “I don’t play football for that,” he told The Guardian in July. “Maybe people would like me to be more marketable and [Alvaro Morata] sometimes says: ‘Mate, you should do this..’ but I understand football differently. I know how it works so I don’t get frustrated if [I get overlooked]. If one day someone wants to reward the work, that’s welcome, but it doesn’t bother me at all.”
Rodri’s attitude is refreshing in modern football and very much in-keeping with his persona. After all, this is a man who was still living in university halls when he made his debut for Villarreal and continued to drive a second-hand Opel Corsa long after becoming a professional.
But never mind his own humility: it is time the Ballon d’Or voters listened to De La Fuente and recognised a player of his magnitude. They can also contradict Guardiola and put a holding midfielder on the front pages of newspapers around the world, clutching the most prestigious individual prize of all.
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