Manchester City are looking to win a record fourth consecutive Premier League title this season and Rodri has sent a warning to their rivals
Manchester City star Rodri (Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Rodri has warned Manchester City’s Premier League rivals he is ready to increase his goal output to ensure they remain the team to beat.
Midfielder Rodri has developed a habit of scoring important goals for City and continued that trend with Sunday’s 88th-minute winner at Sheffield United. Rodri’s fierce strike made it three wins from three for City in the Premier League this season and underlined why the champions are favourites for a fourth title in a row and a sixth in seven years.
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Spain star Rodri has come up with some crucial goals for City in recent years, including the winner against Inter Milan in the Champions League final last season to clinch the Treble. He also scored City’s second goal in their comeback from 2-0 down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 on the final day of the season in 2022, to beat rivals Liverpool to the title by a solitary point.
Rodri also plundered the winner against Villa in the 2020 League Cup final at Wembley and is determined to add more goals after notching his second of the campaign at Bramall Lane. “I think I can improve in these terms, even though I know it’s not my role,” said Rodri.
“I know I can do it. In some situations, where I read the game and pay attention to the strikers and the wingers, I can take advantage of this space in the final third that they generate. I’m trying to improve in this sense.”
Asked if the addition of Mateo Kovacic will enable him to get forward more often and provide a bigger goal threat, particularly with Kevin De Bruyne out and Ilkay Gundogan having left, Rodri said: “If he plays next to me, yes. Ilkay and Kevin played much higher than me, so I needed to cover them, but now with Mateo I can go forward more.
“He’s a very experienced player and a smart player. It’s easy to play with him. He has a special ability to break lines with the ball and he speaks fluent Spanish, so it’s even easier to communicate with him.” Despite boss Pep Guardiola being absent on Sunday, as he recovers from back surgery, City showed they can win without him by digging deep to win after being pegged back to 1-1.
Rodri said City showed their enduring desire and winning mentality to fight back immediately to regain the lead and clinch victory. “Even though we conceded in the 85th minute, we had time until the end,” said Rodri. This says a little bit about the personality of this team. We know now with extra time you still have 10 to 15 minutes to go, so we had the mentality that we could score again.
Rodri scored a late winner as Manchester City beat Sheffield United 2-1 at Bramall Lane ( Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)Manchester City home kit 2023/2024Get the Manchester City home shirt for the 23/24 season
The Puma home shirt features the traditional sky blue colour but has slightly darker blue detailed stripes across the front which take inspiration from the Etihad Stadium’s walkways. City moved to their new home from Maine Road in 2003 and the shirt honours that anniversary.
“The game has changed. Added time is now an extra 10 percent of the game. I don’t like it, I don’t think it’s good for football, because this is when bodies are the most tired and you’ve seen what’s going on with injuries at the beginning of the season. But football is changing, so we have to adapt.”
Rodri said City have shown they are determined to win everything before them this season after such an impressive start to the new campaign. “I think this year the team is very focused,” said Rodri. “We played brilliantly against Arsenal in the Community Shield but couldn’t win.
“Then we won the Super Cup against Sevilla and have been good in the other three games, so we have to keep in this shape. The good thing is we know we can do it, because we already did it. We have to go for all of them, even though it’s so difficult to repeat. We have the character, the behaviour, the quality and the ambition to go again and fight.”
