Pep Guardiola’s men welcome Dortmund to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday 6 April in the first leg of our last eight clash, with the reverse fixture taking place the following Wednesday.
The German outfit have saved their best form this season for a European setting, losing just one of their eight matches so far this campaign while being spearheaded by the tournament’s leading scorer, Erling Haaland.
Although Rodrigo is under no illusions that City will be pushed to our limits by Edin Terzic’s men, he insists that we must not lose sight of our own performance.
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He said: “We don’t focus on individual players. We analyse them as a team and how they usually play.
“It’s important to know the individual players but we have to be focused on the team.
“There are some players I don’t know much about because they are young but they have an unbelievable squad.
“They show they can score lots of goals. They concede, also, but they are dangerous.
“We don’t have to change our way of playing. We take the ball, control counter attacks and control dangerous players.
“The key is if we do a good performance in our way - and control the game in our way - I think it will be good for us.”
If any incentive were needed, victory for City over the two legs would secure a spot in the Champions League semi-finals for just the second time in our history.
Indeed, Pep Guardiola’s men have bowed out at the last eight stage in frustrating fashion in each of the last three seasons.
Rodrigo believes he and his teammates have learned from those past disappointments, and hopes we will use those experiences to help us get over the line this time around.
“We have the opportunity to get back in this situation and prove to ourselves we are ready for every challenge,” he reflected.
“This season, we showed when we do our game and we are focused on our game, we have a lot of chances.
“It’s true after a difficult defeat you learn and face the next time with more ambition and desire. That is what we are going to try and do.
“But we must focus, not accelerate. We want to achieve big things, keep calm and play our game.”
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