Manchester City midfield kingpin Rodri says the Blues will change nothing as they head into the two biggest games of their season. Pep Guardiola’s team face Liverpool in a crunch Premier League clash on Sunday before heading to Madrid two days later for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Atletico.
Guardiola said after the Blues had established a 1-0 lea d in the first leg that he did not know what to expect from Atletico in the return leg. But it seems obvious that they will have to be more expansive, as their ultra-defensive set-up offered virtually no goal threat at the Etihad Stadium.
The manager’s point was that he was not going to worry about how his opposite number Diego Simeone will go about reversing the deficit. He aims to stick to his basic approach - controlling possession and playing the game in the opposition half.
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Rodri echoed that, suggesting City will play their usual game rather than sit deeper and try to counter-attack - a strategy at which they are not particularly good.
“We know this isn't over,” said Rodri. “We are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, we all know how difficult is to go through to the next step.
“We know the opponent we have in front, the way they play is so difficult. I wish we could have scored one more goal at least, but we go there with a small advantage.
“We will have the same plan as usual. It doesn't matter where we play and at what stage we are, we are going to play the same way as always. We have our style of play and we are going to try to win with that.”
Before that game, City square up to Liverpool on Sunday, a clash between arguably the two best teams on the planet, and Rodri said it is important not to lose sight of the reasons the Blues are top of the table with eight games to go.
“We are in the crucial part of the season, we have to show the best version of ourselves,” he said. “We need to give everything in the next few games.
“You fight for seven or eight months to try to get to the point where we are now, with options in three competitions. We deserved to be here and we want to win them all. We need to go step by step and now it's time to focus on the game against Liverpool.”
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