From an individual perspective, it has been a special week in Rodri’s career.
Not only did the 27-year-old convert two penalties in Spain’s clash with Brazil on Tuesday night, but the 3-3 draw ensured that he has now gone an entire year without tasting defeat when taking to the field for club and country.
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That is 61 games, 366 days, close to 5,000 minutes of football — and counting.
You might think this is an arbitrary statistic. You would be correct in calling it superfluous to the wider discussion on City’s title charge, but allow yourself to pause and bask in the impressive record that Manchester City’s midfield maestro holds.
Let’s start by breaking down the numbers.
Since Spain’s loss to Scotland on March 28, 2023, Rodri has played in seven competitions for club and country without defeat. In that time, he has lifted the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Super Cup with Manchester City, and scored in the penalty shootout to help Spain win the UEFA Nations League against Croatia.
And yes, Arsenal may have taken the 2023 Community Shield on penalties, but as we all know by now, penalty kicks are there to decide a game that has ended level. In the record books, at a result, that match was a draw.
At club level, he has the opportunity to do it all again this year, as City continue to fight on three fronts in search of an unprecedented double treble.
Tracing back further in the Premier League, Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over Manchester United at the start of March made it 59 consecutive appearances for Rodri without defeat — breaking Ricardo Carvalho’s 58-game unbeaten run with Chelsea held from November 2006 to February 2008.
“To be able to go so long undefeated is something that brings me a lot of pride, but obviously I don’t chase these kinds of individual stats,” Rodri said before Spain’s clash with Colombia last week.
“If it means I can help the team then of course, it’s great, but only if it translates to collective trophies and victories. It’s something you can talk about with your friends over dinner and admire for a short time, but really my objective and what I’m chasing are titles.”
Before you scroll to the comments section, allow The Athletic to make something very clear:
It is not lost on anyone that Rodri does happen to play for the best team on the planet — coupled with the fact his national team has one of the best footballing pedigrees of the 21st century.
So yes, the 27-year-old is highly likely to win a lot of games anyway. However, it is precisely because Rodri is playing for those teams that makes them as unbeatable as they are.
How to follow Euro 2024 on The Athletic…
Comparing team performance “with or without” a certain player is inherently flawed in football — given the difficulty to infer causality of a player’s presence or absence in the wider context of a team’s performance — but a glance at Rodri’s numbers is rather interesting.
Using Opta’s data via fbref.com, we can look at the Spaniard’s “On-Off” metrics which compares City’s goals and expected goals (xG) difference per 90 minutes when Rodri is on the pitch compared with when he is off it.
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As you can see below, Rodri’s importance towards Pep Guardiola’s relentless winning machine has grown with each season. Where previously City’s were undeterred by the Spaniard’s absence (see 2019-20 to 2021-22 seasons), the past two campaigns have shown that City are far more likely to generate chances and goals with the midfield metronome in the side.
This fact was made painfully clear to City fans in the first half of this season, when Rodri’s red card for violent conduct against Nottingham Forest resulted in a three-match suspension and two consecutive league defeats (plus a Carabao Cup exit) for City — the first time that had occurred since December 2018.
Such is Rodri’s influence — operating as the game’s most elite defensive midfielder in and out of possession — that City’s struggles without him have often been because Guardiola has shuffled the pack too much in an attempt to overcompensate for the Spaniard’s absence.
“The fact we didn’t have Rodri, I wanted to put more protection with the ball, players who are really good with the ball,” Guardiola said after City’s 2-1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in September, explaining why he packed the middle of the pitch with three midfielders and two narrow wingers — yet still lacked protection in the two goals they conceded.
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Even with the added context of a long list of absentees for their 1-0 loss to Newcastle in the League Cup, last year’s autumn mini-crisis showed that Rodri’s importance to City’s play is axiomatic — and no one knows that more than his club manager.
“He’s the best midfield player in the world currently by far because he is able to do everything,” Guardiola said after Rodri’s equaliser earned a 1-1 draw against Chelsea in February.
“What a signing. It’s difficult to understand how we could have done what we have done in recent years without him.”
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For the very few people who might need convincing of Rodri’s qualities, it’s worth reminding ourselves of just how influential he is to City going forward.
Erling Haaland might hoover up the largest share of the shots on goal and an injury-free Kevin De Bruyne might be lauded for being the creative catalyst — but when looking at all open-play shot-ending sequences, you can be confident that City’s midfield general will have his fingerprints on their many routes towards goal.
Rodri’s role is not to be the one to make the difference at the sharp end of the pitch, but it is worth noting that nine of his career 20 Premier League goals have given City the lead in a game — not to mention scoring the winning goal in the 2023 Champions League final against Inter Milan.
Of course, beyond the tough tackling and defensive protection he offers, Rodri’s best traits are highlighted with his tempo-setting ability on the ball. He might drift out wide on occasion, but his positional awareness will keep him largely between the width of the penalty area.
Give Rodri the ball on the half turn, with his back to goal, or facing the attack. In any of those scenarios, you can be confident that possession will stay firmly in City’s hands, with an assuredness and protection on the ball that few midfielders in European football can match.
Using data from SkillCorner, we can explore how often a midfielder receives pressure on the ball “per 30 minutes of team possession” (to account for differences in opportunity to make certain actions). Here, Rodri ranks as the sixth-highest in Europe’s top five leagues, with 59.6 pressures received per 30 minutes in possession — owing to City’s ball-dominant style that draws the opposition towards them.
Alongside this, we can look at the share of pressured situations where possession was retained by midfielders this season. By this metric, only Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos had a higher rate than Rodri’s 93 per cent ball retention under pressure.
Simply put, Rodri is elite in his ability to be City’s release valve under pressure. While being one of the most-pressed midfielders in Europe, he almost always manages to ensure that he, or a team-mate, comes out with the ball.
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Whether it is stopping the opposition counter-attack or starting the engine for City’s steamrolling style, Rodri’s stock has never been higher in world football.
He might not want to linger on the individual accolade, but one year without defeat for club and country is a record to be celebrated.
(Top photo: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
