Finalist of the Nations League, the Spanish team traveled this Friday to Rotterdam, where on Sunday they will face Croatia for the title, convinced that in Enschede, in the Twente field, in the semifinal, they found what should be their new leader on the lawn. Born in Madrid, Rodrigo Hernández has become the gaming capital of Spain. The Manchester City midfielder has taken the step that was needed in a dressing room that has recently been left without Sergio Busquets and Sergio Ramos, who announced their goodbye to the red. De la Fuente already knows where to start building: Rodri and ten others.
The La Rioja coach has known him since the summer of 2015, when he took him to the U-17 European Championship in Greece and they won it (1-0 against Russia). Asensio, Mikel Merino and Unai Simón were also there.
Rodrigo cannot deny that he has been working under Guardiola for four years. The one from Santpedor has modeled the midfielder, who gives meaning and criteria to each ball that passes through his boots. He was always one to offer himself and provide solutions, but his essential role in the triplet of the citizen team and his first Champions League have given him a dose of confidence and security that make him an upward value, a master pillar, just like Senna and Xabi Alonso in the successes of Aragonés, and Busquets in the glory of Del Bosque.
Perhaps for this reason, the City footballer has assumed the stripes with the naturalness that characterizes him, the same one that leads him to admit that he had been horrible – “unbecoming me” – in the first part of the Champions League final. With that face of a formal boy – he is the only one who plays with his shirt tucked in his pants – five days after winning, thanks to his goal, the final in Istanbul, almost without suffering the aftermath of the celebrations, he was prepared to a new challenge against Italy. And his performance was excellent.
Epicenter of the game for Spain, Rodri distributed 103 good passes (28 more than the next in the field: Alba) and only missed four deliveries in the 90 minutes against an intense team like Italy. But it is that he did not stay in the preparation but, after the great goal from Istanbul, he took responsibility in attack and even tried the shot four times, one which bounced off the defense and Joselu took advantage of in the 88th minute to qualify Spain for the final of a Nations League in which Pedri could not be on the list, injured. The Barcelona canary is and will be key to the game between the lines due to his spark and imagination. Together they must be empowered. Also by age Rodrigo is in full maturity. Next week, on June 22, he turns 27 and has 42 international caps since Lopetegui made his debut in a friendly against Germany in Düsseldorf in 2018. He entered for Thiago.
"Iniesta neither paints his hair nor gets tattoos," Guardiola said about the man from Fuentealbilla to highlight his calm lifestyle. Rodri has preferred not to change his number despite the fact that Busquets' number 5 was free and he continues with number 16 on his back, the same one he wears at his club and that he also wore at Villarreal.
Nor did he complain at the World Cup when Luis Enrique chose to delay his position and remove him from his ideal position. Rodrigo played the four games in Qatar at the center of the defense. In three of them he partnered with Laporte, his teammate at City. Facing Japan to his left was Pau Torres. The coach earned his good ball output (207 successful passes against Morocco in the quarterfinals!) And his high competitiveness.
Beckenbauer played as a libero in the 1970 World Cup. When he defended Germany, the kaiser was the broom, the last defender. With the ball, he went ahead to organize the midfield. Then Matthäus and Sammer did something similar, that is, in German football it is quite typical to convert midfielders into defenders when the players are of a certain age. But it is that Rodri is in his prime. Already chosen by UEFA as the best player in the Champions League 22-23, if he joins the Nations League to City's treble, Rodrigo will have completed his best season. Another accolade.
