Rodri urged Manchester City to finish the job and make history when they face Fluminense in the Club World Cup final on Friday, admitting his side had needed to shake off a “very bad feeling in the changing room” caused by a slump in their domestic form.
City swatted aside Urawa Red Diamonds with a commanding semi-final performance in Jeddah, easing three goals clear of their opponents within an hour. It was an impressive display of application little more than 72 hours after they had been pegged back to a 2-2 draw by Crystal Palace, leaving them fourth in the top flight. Now they have a chance to rule the world and win their fifth honour in 2023.
“We have a massive opportunity to win an incredible trophy,” Rodri said. “We’re in the final. It was tough. Let’s do our best to win it. We have to give our best to try to win everything because it will be history. It would be an amazing run if we end with five titles.”
Rodri said the change of scene, via a six-hour flight to Saudi Arabia for the tournament, had come at an opportune time. “[The last few games] left a very bad feeling in the changing room for us so I think it was good for us to stop a little bit and then come here to the [Club] World Cup,” he said, adding that City had felt a sense of failure after Palace bounced back from two down at the Etihad Stadium.
“When you’re in that moment you’re in this mixture of feeling that you have failed and dropping points: sometimes you deserve that, sometimes you don’t. It’s a time when you can’t speak much, you have to be quiet, work as hard as you can and results will come out.”
Pep Guardiola confirmed Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who both made the trip as they recover from hamstring and foot injuries respectively, would miss the final. “Kevin started training yesterday and tomorrow he trains with us, it’s three months [he has been out through injury],” he said. “[He is] getting better. Erling still cannot train.”
Guardiola used his post-match press conference to criticise the pitch at King Abdullah Sports City. “The pitch conditions were not really good honestly, but we know how that business works,” he said, before appearing to offer a jab at Fifa. “We’ll adapt, I would have loved to have a better pitch for both teams. In football the conditions for the players, the biggest organisation [should] take care of. We’re going to play on that.”
