Manchester City were struggling. Over an hour into the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League final, they had failed to break down a resolute Inter Milan. City were trying to match the feat of their Manchester rivals―a European treble. But, as the match wore on, their Italian opponents had looked increasingly comfortable in defence and given the City defence some scares. Playmaker Kevin De Bruyne had been forced off in the first half with an injury and 50-goal striker Erling Haaland had been neutralised. Pep Guardiola, who was trying to become the first manager to win two European trebles, had made no change since he introduced Phil Foden for De Bruyne. As it turned out, he did not need to; because, he had already done his work on the training ground.
Guardiola’s saviour that night was Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, better known as Rodri. His strike from just inside the box sealed City’s 1-0 win and the treble. “When I reference Pep, I have to talk with my hands; I have to find a table, or a board and I have to move around coffee cups, like he does,” Rodri wrote about his manager in The Players’ Tribune. “‘He will go here and then bang―you move here, into space. Bang.’ He added that final mental piece of the puzzle. ‘Seeing’ the game differently. ‘Feeling’ it―when to move into space, when to hold back. When to press, when to ease off.”
That is exactly what Rodri did to score the winner that night. “It was not calculation,” he said. “It was a feeling. The second before Bernardo [Silva] put in the cross, I was far away from the play. On the TV replay, you can’t even see me. But, I took one step forward, the ball was deflected. I saw the ball bouncing toward me.” A few long steps later, he calmly passed the ball into the net. “I ran off and did a knee slide in front of our fans, and then my first thought was: 20 more minutes. F****** hell. Long way. That’s the mind of a No. 6.” Rodri performed his defensive role with panache as the team saw off the remaining 20 minutes.
He was named the best player of the 2022-23 Champions League, made the Premier League team of the year and was nominated for the 2023 Ballon d’Or. But, he never stood a chance of winning it that year―the award has always been skewed in favour of attacking players. Rodri finished fifth with Lionel Messi winning his eighth Ballon d’Or (De Bruyne was fourth and Haaland second for their attacking contributions to City’s treble). In 2024, without Ballon d’Or-hoggers Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the fray, it was a much more open contest. And, Rodri had also stepped up his game to show unprecedented influence from the defensive midfield position.
Though Real Madrid threw a hissy fit―unworthy of the world’s greatest football club―on learning that Vinicius Jr had not won, it is tough to legitimately argue that anyone had outperformed Rodri in the 2023-24 season. But, more on that later.
Genius unleashed: Guardiola with Messi in 2008. He created the right structure around Messi, rather than overwhelming him with instructions | Getty Images
When he won the 2024 Ballon d’Or on October 28, Rodri became the first defence-focused player to win the award since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 (2018-winner Luka Modric is capable of operating in defensive midfield, but he primarily played a more advanced role in the 2017-18 season and the 2018 World Cup) and the first Spaniard to win since Luis Suárez in 1960.
With Rodri’s win, Guardiola also achieved the rare distinction of guiding two players to the prestigious award. No doubt, Messi could have won many Ballons d’Or even if he was never coached by Guardiola, but his first Ballon d’Or came after Guardiola’s first treble win with Barcelona in 2008-09.
Guardiola had markedly different jobs with Messi and Rodri. When he took over at Barcelona in 2008, Messi was already one of the best players in the world―he was second, behind Ronaldo, in the 2008 Ballon d’Or―and had played four full seasons in the Barcelona senior team. Guardiola knew that the 21-year-old had the potential to be special―“the most complete player I have ever seen”, in his words. He has often said that he did not have to teach Messi, as he already knew. But, Guardiola played a key part in setting Messi on the path to being an all-time great.
Guardiola realised that instead of overwhelming Messi with too many instructions, he just had to create the right structure in the team around the Argentine. The false-nine role allowed Messi to have maximum impact and his numbers skyrocketed. He won four consecutive Ballons d’Or (including the rebranded FIFA Ballon d’Or) from 2009 to 2012. It is telling that after Guardiola left Barcelona in 2012, Messi only won one of the next six Ballons d’Or.
While Guardiola and Messi were scripting history with the all-conquering Barcelona team of the time, Rodri was in the youth academy of Atlético Madrid. Education was important to his family and his father wanted him to do an exchange year in the US. But, that was impossible alongside his youth football career. So, as a compromise, at 14, he went to a summer camp in Connecticut―“S’mores. Incredible.” But, being at the camp meant that he could not watch the 2010 World Cup. He kept track by asking the people in charge to check results.
Spain lost the first game. (“Switzerland? Really? You sure you Googled it right?”) As Spain improved and progressed deep into the tournament, a young Rodri felt like he was “dying”. He got permission to watch the final on a 10-inch-screen computer that the camp had. “I don’t know how we did it, we were in the middle of the woods, but I must have found a stream that was not exactly legal,” he said. “I watched, surrounded by Americans who didn’t care.”
When Spain won, he sprinted out and started screaming. “Vamooooos... Viva España! The Americans thought I was crazy,” he recalled. “‘Wait, is the Spanish guy crying? Over the sawker?’”
After returning to Spain, he continued to juggle his football career and education. At 17, he moved to Villarreal’s youth academy and enrolled in Jaume I University. When he turned 18, he was no longer eligible to live in the academy. So, he moved into the university hostel. Training, attending class and showing up with sparkling water as others drank. He would disappear when it was time to go to the club. Soon, he was ‘caught’ for never going to the club and had to ‘confess’ that he played football and therefore had to sleep early. “Lame, bro,” he was told. After he broke into the first team and started playing in La Liga, the reaction changed to: “What are you even doing here man? You were playing Barcelona last night!”
University, where he also met his partner, Laura, kept him grounded. After graduating in business administration and management, a different kind of education was awaiting Rodri. Two distinct styles of football. First, back at Atlético, he learned to be a ‘bad guy’ under Diego Simeone. Alongside his well-rounded technical skills, this new-found, tough side convinced Guardiola that Rodri would fit in at City after just one season back in Madrid. City shelled out a then club record ￡62.8 million in 2019 to make it happen.
The 23-year-old was nervous before meeting Guardiola. But, the relationship started well, helped by Rodri’s penchant for learning. “He’s told me three or four concepts I didn’t know... I’m excited to get started,” Rodri told Sky Sports News in 2019.
Guardiola has never quite got over the Messi hangover. In 2015, for example, Messi was en route to his fifth Ballon d’Or. In the Champions League semifinals, Barcelona beat Guardiola’s Bayern Munich 5-3 on aggregate. Ahead of the matches, when asked how he was going to contain his former No. 10, he said there was no defence that can stop Messi.
In Rodri, Guardiola saw a technically gifted midfielder who was already close to the best in his position, but one who could be moulded further―into the perfect modern defensive midfielder. He became obsessed with this new project, similar to how he had made it his mission to pave the way for Messi. He is even said to have stepped in during training to correct Rodri’s position by mere inches. By 2021, Rodri was ready to take on the world and stamp his authority on it.
That is when the manager and his new ward came up against the monster Guardiola had created at Barcelona. Rodri, still keen to impress after two seasons with his new manager, volunteered to man-mark Messi. Guardiola said his plan was not to mark Messi closely. Instead, he was focused on controlling the space around Messi. It did not work the first time, with Messi scoring in a 2-0 PSG win. But, the next time the teams met, Guardiola and Rodri got the win. The refusal to make tactical changes to deal with Messi’s threat showed Guardiola’s confidence in Rodri’s positional football intelligence.
Guardiola’s philosophy of monitoring the spaces, rather than opposition players, has been key to the now-injured Rodri’s development into the best defensive midfielder in world football.
In 2023-24, Vinicius was the best attacker in the world, but Rodri was undoubtedly the best player. From February 2023 to May 2024, Rodri’s club was unbeaten for 74 games when he played―a new world record, as per the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. Similarly, he did not lose with club or country for 73 games, (this is third, according to IFFHS, behind Italy’s Demetrio Albertini and Paolo Maldini). Apart from his defensive work and flawless controlling of the game, he had 12 goals and 15 assists for club and country. That is only 11 goal contributions behind Vinicius! While Vinicius was the best player in Real’s successful Champions League campaign, Rodri was player of the tournament in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph. So, for 2023-24, it is unfair to begrudge Rodri his award―any such perception is a result of recency bias (Vinicius has been the best footballer on the planet in the early stages of 2024-25).
What has elevated Rodri’s game to the level of being a worthy Ballon d’Or winner is his involvement in the attack. For instance, in 2023-24, he was first in the Premier League for carries (2,513), passes into the final third (378) and progressive passes (376). Perhaps most impressively, he had the highest rate of involvement in open-play sequences resulting in shots―8.4 per 90 minutes―ahead of even star attackers such as Phil Foden (7.8), Martin Odegaard (7.7), Bukayo Saka (7.5) and Mohamed Salah (7.3).
And, in this regard, Guardiola’s imprint on him is indelible. While the manager’s role with Messi may have been more as an enabler of talent and instincts, he was vital in the Argentine developing the way he did. That is just what great managers do: give players what they need to become the best they can.