In the 2023-2024 Premier League season, Manchester City lost only three matches. A 2-1 defeat away at Wolverhampton Wanderers on September 30, a 1-0 loss to Arsenal in the next match and a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa in early December. In all three, Rodri was unavailable and was dearly missed. He was serving a red card suspension in the first two cases and a yellow card suspension in the third.
The 28-year-old midfield anchor sustained ligament damage in his right knee during last Sunday's tumultuous 2-2 draw at home to Arsenal.
Perhaps most important for City, and what elevates Rodri beyond the rest of the world’s best defensive midfielders, is his involvement in open-play sequences resulting in shots. With 8.4 per 90 minutes, he was comfortably top of the league, outshining even attacking players such as Phil Foden (7.8), Martin Odegaard (7.7), Bukayo Saka (7.5), Dominik Szoboszlai (7.4), James Maddison (7.3) and Mohamed Salah (7.3).
Similarly, in other competitions, City did not lose a match till the FA Cup final when Rodri was playing. That final saw something rare—a clinical and resolute Manchester United who executed their manager’s plan to a T. Only such an aberration could beat City last season when Rodri was playing. It is then abundantly clear why City manager Pep Guardiola called the Ballon d’Or contender irreplaceable. Here is a closer look at the numbers:
- Never before has Guardiola had to cope without Rodri for an extended period of time. Last season, he started 50 matches and played over 4,000 minutes, the most of any player at City. Since joining the club in 2019-2020, he has missed 21 league matches.
- Man City lost seven of those 21 matches—33.3 per cent. City’s win percentage with Rodri is 74.1 per cent and without him, it is 61.9 per cent.
- The team averages 2.37 points per game with him and 1.90 per game without him. During the time he has been in the Premier League, he has made an astounding 2,000 more passes than any other player.
- He has won possession 1,348 times, second only to Declan Rice (1,356).
- In the 2023-2024 season, he was first in the league for touches (3,988), carries (2,513), passes into the final third (378) and progressive passes (376). He was also second for winning possession (235, two behind Bruno Guimaraes).