Not just the scorer of one of the most iconic goals in the Club’s history, Rodrigo is always at the heart of everything City do.
The Spaniard has continually grown in reputation, confidence and stature since first arriving at the Etihad Stadium in 2019.
So much so, it’s now impossible to imagine the Treble of 2022/23 happening without the 27-year-old’s ever reliable presence in the centre of the pitch.
UEFA recognised his impact, naming him Champions League Player of the Season.
He played in 56 of our 61 games as we went all the way in the FA Cup and Champions League and again retained our Premier League title. In fact, no one in City’s squad can match Rodrigo‘s 4,478 minutes on the pitch across the campaign.
The only player to start more games in a single campaign under Guardiola is Lionel Messi in 2011-12, with 57.
We’ll talk more about his day job shortly. However, it would be remiss not to reflect on the added dimension to his game.
Without his composure in front of goal, City may well not be the current champions of Europe.
Of course, he had already scored a Goal of the Season contender in the quarter-final victory over Bayern Munich. However, it’s his sweeping finish in the final that instantly became iconic.
As the ball deflected off Inter’s Francesco Acerbi at the midway point of the second half in the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, our No.16 was clear favourite.
He stepped on to it from the edge of the box and focused on a clean contact that curled around Matteo Darmian and into the back of the net.
That moment was his but the final whistle was one for all the team and the backroom staff who tirelessly support them.
City were only the second ever English side to win the Treble and the celebrations that followed were befitting of such an achievement.
Rodrigo‘s laser focus was replaced by a boyish enthusiasm, marking the occasion with a central role in all that followed in Istanbul and Manchester over the subsequent days.
While that moment is one no one connected with the Club will ever forget, it’s the hard work of the preceding months that made it possible.
Stationed at the base of midfield, in the position which Guardiola spent his career, Rodrigo dictated the tempo of our play on the ball and our defensive shape out of possession.
Joined at stages in the deep role by inverted full backs and then John Stones in his complex hybrid position, it’s Rodrigo that gives Guardiola what he craves most on a football pitch. Control.
When you compare his numbers to his counterparts around England and Europe, you find a midfielder at the top of the global game.
His 4,068 passes and 466 ball recoveries across all competitions was the most of any Premier League player.
Moves tend to start with Rodrigo, and if they don’t, he will be involved.
He initiated 11 open-play sequences that ended with a goal in the Premier League in 2022-23, four more than any other player and he was involved in the build-up to 22 goals in the Premier League in 2022-23, four more than any other player.
He finished the 2022-23 Premier League season with the most ball carries (702), the most progressive carries (384), the highest total carry distance (7,421 metres) and the highest carry progress (3,953 metres) of any midfielder.
While it’s by no means his defining feature, his physicality is also vitally important to Guardiola‘s team, winning 69% of his aerial duels, the best rate of any midfielder.
In the Champions League, he regained possession of the ball 105 times, 26 more times than any other player, and the most since Claude Makélélé in 2007-08 (109).
Given his central position, he spends a lot of time in crowded areas. To continue to play the football Guardiola requests in that environment requires a surefootedness that has become his trademark within the team.
According to Opta, the Spaniard received high pressure from an opponent on 436 occasions in the Champions League, the most of any player, and completed 87% of his passes when under high pressure, the best rate of any player to attempt at least 200 such passes.
All of that encapsulates exactly why Guardiola is always reluctant to leave his midfield linchpin out of his team.
