Rodri has pleaded for a rest and admitted Manchester City are fatigued after drawing 3-3 with Real Madrid in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at Santiago Bernabéu, with the midfielder suggesting players may get a break in the coming weeks in order to combat the situation.
City are in the midst of an intense phase of the campaign as they remain on course to repeat last season’s treble. On Saturday they host Luton Town at the Etihad Stadium, with Pep Guardiola’s men third in the Premier League on 70 points, one behind Liverpool and Arsenal. They then host Real in next Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg before travelling to Wembley three days later to face Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final.
It was a breathless game in Madrid on Tuesday, with the lead changing hands three times. City went ahead after two minutes through Bernardo Silva, Carlo Ancelotti’s team equalised via a Rúben Dias own goal and City trailed 2-1 at the break following Rodrygo’s 14th-minute strike. According to Rodri, the holders had to fight first-half tiredness to regain the ascendancy, which they did through sensational goals from Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol, before Federico Valverde’s volley 11 minutes from time made it 3-3.
“We showed our mentality to come back, to be honest,” said Rodri. “The media has spoken about rest and it’s important. They were a bit fresher in the first half than us, it’s normal. But I think the mentality of the team to go against them and come back with those goals sums up the mentality of the champions we are.”
“I do need a rest,” added Rodri, who has played 3,498 minutes for City this season, second only to Foden (3,560). “Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It [rest] is something we are planning, yeah.”
Rodri pointed to home advantage next week providing City with a boost. “It’s one game in our home now and we are very strong there,” said the Spain midfielder. “We know how strong we are in our home. The key thing on Tuesday night – we knew whatever happened it wasn’t going to be over, even if we won or we lost.”
City drew 1-1 with Real in last year’s semi-final first leg in Madrid before winning 4-0 in the return. “We have a draw that is the same result we had last season,” added Rodri. “In terms of how the game was, it’s a good result in terms of the feeling of the team. We were finding the spaces in the second half, we did it great and now we move to Manchester, to our home and we know how strong we are there.
“If we copy the first 20-30 minutes of the second half it’s going to be difficult for them. We will need our crowd to be there for us.”
