Rodri has been Man City’s most important player for many seasons, but recently he admitted that he was exhausted and asked coach Pep Guardiola to rest in order to gain strength to continue the tough final phase of the season.

Rodri’s importance to Manchester City is unquestionable, having started 22 of the last 24 matches in all competitions. He has not lost 65 consecutive matches for club and national team, continuing to play an important role in Manchester City’s 3-3 draw against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals early this morning, April 10.

In the context of continuous plowing, Rodri asked Pep Guardiola not to use him in the match against Luton Town this weekend in the Premier League. Thereby, there will be a short break to be at full strength for the return match with Real Madrid in the middle of next week.

Rodri has been working continuously for many seasons. Photo: Getty  

“I really need to rest” , Rodri said, “See what is going on and how we survive in this situation; sometimes it is necessary, I need to recover. Each of us can do better every day, and so can I. But honestly, every journey is full of hardships, so there needs to be a little pause.”

Man City is on the journey to defend last year’s historic treble, as Pep Guardiola’s team is currently 1 point behind the Premier League leaders and has reached the FA Cup semi-finals. Especially in the prestigious Champions League arena, Rodri and his teammates must immediately solve the not-easy problem called Real Madrid.

“We performed well when we were behind,” Rodri praised the team after this morning’s match, “Real performed better than us in the first half. But I see we overcame the difficulties and took the lead; goals like that show we can become champions.

This is a good result for us because of the way the game went and everything being relatively open. Now it’s a home match where we can crush every opponent.”

Man City crushed Real 4-0 at the Etihad last season in the semi-finals, and Rodri believes the team can continue to eliminate the 14-time European champions this year, concluding: “Of course we can do the same thing. We know how strong we are at home. The important thing in Madrid is that we know that no matter what happens, it’s not the end—win or lose. Now that we are back in Manchester, if we continue to repeat the 20 to 30 minutes of the first half, they will be in trouble. But first, we need the full support of the fans.”