Пеп Гвардиолагийн итгэл найдварыг биелүүлж, бэртлээс эргэн ирсэн хагас хамгаалагч Родри Испанийг дэлхийн аваргын финалд хөтөллөө.
Манчестер Ситигийн хагас хамгаалагч өвдөгний хүнд бэртлийн улмаас 15 сар талбайд гараагүй ч, энэ удаагийн ДАШТ-д гайхалтай тоглолтыг үзүүлж байна. Ялангуяа Францын эсрэг хийсэн хагас шигшээ тоглолтод тэрээр бөмбөг эзэмшилт, тоглолтын ойлголт болон хөдөлгөөнөөрөө багийнхаа 2:0 харьцаатай ялалтад үнэтэй хувь нэмэр орууллаа. Родри энэ тэмцээнд 655 дамжуулалт гүйцэтгэж дээд амжилт тогтоосон бөгөөд талбайн төвд тоглолтын хэмнэлийг бүрэн захирч байна.
Түүний байрлал эзлэх мэдрэмж нь өрсөлдөгчийн сөрөг довтолгоог таслан зогсооход чухал үүрэг гүйцэтгэж буйг Пабло Сабалета онцолсон юм. Родри бөмбөг алдсан даруйд дахин даралт үзүүлж, бөмбөг эргүүлэн авах үйл ажиллагаанд хамгийн идэвхтэй оролцогчдын нэгээр тодроод байна. Тэрээр Испанийн дасгалжуулагч Луис де ла Фуэнтегийн удирдлага дор өсвөрийн шигшээгээс эхлэн хамтдаа амжилт гаргаж ирсэн багийн ахлагчийн хувиар талбай дээрх гол холбогч болж байна.
Манчестер Сити түүнтэй шинэ гэрээ байгуулахыг эрмэлзэж байгаа ч одоогоор тохиролцоонд хүрээгүй байна. Реал Мадрид руу шилжих тухай яриа тасралтгүй гарч байгаа ч Испанийн клуб түүнийг сонирхохгүй байгаагаа илэрхийлжээ. Гэсэн хэдий ч ням гарагт болох Аргентины эсрэг финалын тоглолтын дараа Родригийн зах зээлийн үнэлгээ болон Европын томоохон багуудын сонирхол улам бүр нэмэгдэх төлөвтэй байна.
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You may have seen Pep Guardiola’s prophetic statement from last October.
“At the World Cup will be the best Rodri and next season will be the best Rodri,” he said during the Spain midfielder’s ongoing recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee that, in the end, kept him out of action for around 15 months.
He returned to action for Manchester City, properly, in January, and reminded everybody what had been missing. It was immediately apparent how much better the team played when he was in it, and that remained the case until the end of the season in May, and yet he was still not at his very best.
In fact, there have been figures around City, who, like all of those spoken to for this article by The Athletic, asked to be kept anonymous to protect relationships, and even around the Spain camp this summer, that doubted whether the 2023 Ballon d’Or winner could get back to his previous standards.
Perhaps all that was required was the kind of patience Guardiola had highlighted. On Sunday, Rodri will lead Spain out in the World Cup final against Argentina, having steadily improved throughout the tournament, to the point where we may now be witnessing a return to his very highest level.
His commanding performances had already caught the attention. Yet the contribution he made to Spain’s comprehensive 2-0 victory over France in Tuesday’s semi-final really stood out, not just in terms of his quality on the ball and his understanding of the game, but the mobility that had been the subject of some doubt heading into the summer.
Guardiola was talking at a time when Rodri was champing at the bit to get back into action, while the club’s medical experts were fighting to, effectively, save him from himself. Months earlier, he had returned to action in the Club World Cup in June, making four appearances just eight months after sustaining the injury in a Premier League match against Arsenal in September 2024.
That had disrupted his return to full fitness, which did not come until the new year. During the autumn, Rodri regularly pushed to make himself available for action and was visibly frustrated when told he needed to wait. The 30-year-old opted against strengthening his leg muscles via weight training, believing, as some sportspeople do, that the best way to recover is through playing matches.
Rodri improved over the final few months of the season (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
The injury and his recovery from it have provided an interesting backdrop to his immediate club future. His contract at City expires next summer, and the club have been doing everything they can to get him to sign a new one. So far, they have not made much progress, but they plan to speak to him again after the World Cup.
Rodri has been regularly linked with Real Madrid. He has long been open to playing at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the noises coming from various levels at the Spanish club could not be clearer: they have no intention of signing him. People close to Rodri have expressed surprise in the past that Madrid have not shown an interest in him.
Sources close to Enrique Riquelme, who lost the presidential election to Florentino Perez, insist he wanted to sign for the club and would have done had Riquelme taken control. Madrid are not happy that Rodri’s name has been constantly linked to them this summer, but sources close to some senior players at Madrid have spoken about how good his signing would be.
Elsewhere in La Liga, midfield is not a summer priority for Barcelona. Yet should Spain lift the trophy on Sunday — and indeed even if they do not — you could not rule out a surge of interest as clubs around Europe hope to get their hands on a player who could be available for less than usual, with his contract expiring, given the risk of City losing him for free next summer, and one who is, potentially, as good as ever.
One thing that will surely appeal, and certainly to City, is that even on what feels like an off-day, Rodri’s ability to dictate his team’s tempo in possession does not falter. Across the last seven full seasons of Premier League football, his passing accuracy stands at 91.8 per cent, while he has averaged an incredible 108.7 touches per game, both figures that would put him above any midfielder in the past season.
If anything, the better Rodri plays, the less noticeable his individual contributions become; the paradox of a player who quietly maintains the team structure so that others can thrive. When he is on his game, passing sequences are seamless, and the opposition are boxed in, unable to escape as he hoovers up loose balls at the base of midfield.
Spain have dominated possession and conceded just once along the way to their second World Cup final. Rodri has played almost every minute, a surefire sign that he is operating close to his imperious best.
He was always going to be the hub of the team this summer, given his strong relationship with Spain coach Luis de la Fuente. He made his Spain Under-19 debut in 2015 when De la Fuente was in charge, and they also won the 2015 European Under-19 Championship together, as well as being together at under-21 level.
Mikel Merino, Unai Simon, Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal also came through the youth ranks with Rodri under De la Fuente, meaning there is great chemistry on and off the pitch. In both senses, Rodri is considered a leader.
During the course of the World Cup, he has already broken records that he will be able to extend during Sunday’s final. No player in World Cup history has completed more than his 655 passes in a single tournament, while he has carried the ball further than anyone else this summer.
The pass network below from Spain’s quarter-final win over Belgium helps to illustrate his central role in the team, receiving plenty of passes from his centre-backs, moving the ball forward to advanced midfielders and allowing Ruiz and Olmo to push on either side.
But arguably more crucial is Rodri’s innate sense of positioning to snuff out dangerous opposition counter-attacks before they really get a chance to catch. Former City defender and Argentina international Pablo Zabaleta, now part of FIFA’s technical study group for the summer, picked him out for particular praise ahead of that Belgium win.
“He can read the game really well; he always knows when to press,” says Zabaleta. “His positioning is always excellent to counter-press and win the ball back immediately. That is part of the Spanish principle. They all know that in those two or three seconds after losing the ball that they need to react, and he is always right there.”
Here is a clear example against Portugal, after a low cross by Alex Baena is intercepted. Midfielder Joao Neves looks to move the ball on quickly, finding Bruno Fernandes with a quick pass, but Rodri is aware and instantly closes him down, barging him off the ball and returning the ball to his centre-back with minimal fuss.
A lot of these actions require Rodri to be alert and physically up to speed to ensure he can get across, compete in the duel, and come out on top, given the risk often involved when he steps out of position.
In an earlier example against Austria, see how quickly he reacts as Lamine Yamal is bundled over in the penalty area, steaming after the ball and going shoulder-to-shoulder with Marcel Sabitzer, once again surrounded by team-mates when he does eventually win the ball.
These kinds of things can go unnoticed in the blur of a game, but Rodri often feels more conspicuous in his absence; when he is a second too late and is easily played around to allow the opposition out.
While it happened on occasion for City last season as he fought his way back to full fitness, it feels as if he has hardly put a foot wrong this summer.
Per FIFA Football Performance Insights’ enhanced data set, no player has recovered possession more often as part of a counter-pressing chain, defined as a sequence of pressures on the ball seconds after it was lost.
Rodri has been the last player to press when his team have regained the ball in a counter-press on nine different occasions, one clear of new City teammate Elliot Anderson. As we can see from the map below, those interventions span the length and width of the field, illustrating the initiative he shows in leading surges of pressure to move forward and nick the ball, wherever he may be on the pitch.
For Spain, keeping players close together and concentrating on their positioning while they have the ball helps them to string together short, sharp passing sequences, but it also means that they can collapse on the ball quickly and keep the opposition under pressure. Rodri is critical to both sides of the game.
Even so, their victory against France was considered a shock for many onlookers. Didier Deschamps’ side had wooed everybody with their vast attacking talents, yet Spain completely threw them off their rhythm.
On Sunday, they face perhaps the ultimate challenge: an indomitable Argentina team that will give absolutely everything to win their fourth World Cup, a second in a row, and to give Lionel Messi the conditions he needs to make the difference, as he has been doing all summer.
Rodri, in his own way, has been doing the same, and if Spain are to do to Argentina what they did to France, his influence will be vital.
