Every Word: Rodri’s pre-Real Madrid press conference | OneFootball

Manchester City midfielder Rodri has addressed the media on the eve of the mammoth Champions League semi-final first-leg clash with Real Madrid.

The Spanish midfielder was handed a rare opportunity to rest last time out, following a high-intensity season that has seen Pep Guardiola’s mainstay defensive midfielder appear in almost all of their competitive fixtures.

That comes amid a performance for Spain at the World Cup too, before Rodri returned to Manchester to pick up exactly where he had left off and continue to put out top level showings that have proven to be integral to City’s success so far.

Should Manchester City go all the way and secure the three trophies that remain available to them this season, then Rodri is likely to play a significant role in that run, as he continues to keep Kalvin Phillips out of the starting line-up.

As Rodri looked ahead to the last-four of Europe’s premier club competition, here is every single word as he addressed the media at the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday evening!

On last season’s semi-final second-leg at the Santiago Bernabeu

“I think football gives you the option for revenge. You can always learn from past experiences. We are here again to fight again with motivation. We are doing very good this year.“Football is like this sometimes. We did 180 minutes brilliantly but it is not enough sometimes. The last minutes in that leg we did not handle in the right way. It is something we have learned from but I don’t like to talk about the past. We have changed a lot of things. With the hunger of revenge.”

On Erling Haaland

“For us he is an important player. I think we never doubted his ability to score goals. He fits so well in the team. As a team we are getting the best moment now. We have been brilliant the last eight months to be here. This is a matter of effort and suffering but we know if we want to finish this we have to do it in the last month. We must show the best version of ourselves.

“Erling is a very simple guy. Still 22 years old, he is a kid, not very old. I see myself young so imagine him. He is so humble he wants to listen, learn and has the hunger to improve.”

On the turning point for Manchester City this season

“The whole year we have been very good. Maybe the results weren’t always there but now we are identifying what we have to do. This is the moment that big teams like us know when to push more as we one ten games in a row. We have to step forward as a team.”

On how Manchester City can improve from last season

“The level is so high in the Premier League so we have to play at this level. The quality of the opponents is so high and we have to do the same with Real. We need to be efficient and score goals. The level is so high this season but we are not champions of anything yet.”

On quality of squad

“My club and the philosophy we have pushes us and gets us better. We try to teach this level of ambition and hunger. You need something here to go again and have the proper mentality. We need to fight like a small team and then we have top quality players. We will fight hard again.”