A major Manchester City player made very strong comments this week in an interview with France Football.
Decisive scorer in the last Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan (1-0), Rodri has today established himself as one of the world references in the defensive midfielder position. The Spanish international flourished in a protagonist team like that of Pep Guardiola, but it was under the tutelage of Diego Simeone, at Atlético de Madrid, that he reached a milestone.
“ I only spent one season with Diego Simeone (2018-2019) but I learned a lot. Basically, I am a player who prefers to have the ball. It was he who passed on to me the importance of the defensive side of my position. The mentality to have to be competitive in duels, to be strong when the team is in difficulty, etc. I understood another dimension of the game“, explained Rodri in an interview with France Football.
The Premier League and La Liga, “2 different sports!” »
But it was by comparing the Premier League and La Liga that the Sky Blues midfielder made some very surprising comments. According to him, these two leagues are so different in their respective approaches that they almost resemble very distinct sports!
“They are almost different sports. (Laughs.) The key is understanding rhythm. In La Liga, you cannot play at the same pace as in the Premier League because the partners would not follow you and you would isolate yourself with the ball. In Spain, it's patient and tactical, the teams know more what they want to do with the ball. In England, football is more about intensity. I remember my debut against West Ham, I didn't have half a second to think, I already had an opponent on me. I had to learn to think faster, to resist impacts to keep control of the ball. I also had to learn to lose it as little as possible because, here, with the speed of the opponents, the offensive danger of the teams, individual talents punish you more than in Spain.”
