Often when a door closes, a window opens. This was the case in the Rodrigo Hernández case because In the summer of 2013, when the Madrid player was 16 years old, Villarreal made him an attractive offer and he left the Atlético team, which did not attract much interest. because it has not completed its growth spurt. He was a long way from the 1.91 meters he currently measures, but he was targeting the midfielder, or at least that’s what they saw in that level-headed and hard-working kid at Villarreal.
He arrived at Castellón, where he began to shine in the youth team and caught the eye of Marcelino, who made his debut with the first team. For this reason Rodri enrolled in Business Administration and Management at the University of Castellón Jaume I and bought a second-hand Opel Corsa from a woman to travel from Castellón to Madrid to see his family. The former always took precedence for him because of his intellectual restlessness and foresight: “Football won’t always be there.” He even took a flight from Manchester to Castellón to take exams to finish his degree. The second thing was that the Corsa was built against the idea of his relatives, who encouraged him to buy a more substantial car for trips back home. Atlético paid $25 million to send him back to the Metropolitano in 2018, but he would bid farewell to his bedroom club once again. A year later, Guardiola spent $70 million to transfer him to make him the leader of the champions Manchester City project and one of the best midfielders in the world.
Neither social networks nor tattoos
He arrived in England without a voice, without a social network and without a single tattoo on his body. His record barely included the U-19 European Championship and the European Super Cup with Atlético. No one, perhaps not even Guardiola himself, suspected the enormous possibilities of that tall boy who started playing indoor football at the Kolbe school in Villanueva de la Cañada. In Madrid. There he integrated into his game an innate way of using his body to protect the ball and avoid giving in to opposition pressure. He moved to Rayo Majadahonda and from there to Atlético, where he spent five years with the Hernández brothers Theo (Milan) and Lucas (PSG).
He emerged as a fun companion at Villarreal. Especially at the UJI residence, where he moved to combine football with ADE studies. Rodri, a funny man who likes to make impressions at karaoke and is very charming with a microphone in hand, arrived in Manchester knowing that this was a great opportunity for him to grow under Pep.. Rodri reflects on every match he plays and there is not a single match night that he does not watch at home to review what needs to be improved. Both he and his team share this with Pep later.
He became such a fundamental player in the team’s play that City suffered a collapse when he was substituted. “I told the players that it is difficult to win without Rodri,” the Santpedor coach said recently, after linking a winless run of games coinciding with the loss of the Madrid midfielder. While City wins 52.9% of matches when Rodri is not on the field, this rate increases to 73.3% when Rodri is on the field.
Praise for Guardiola
Everyone in the City dressing room respects him, from Pep on down: “He was a different type of player when he arrived. Since then he played numerous matches and became one of the captains on and off the field. He is a great center who contributes in build-up, attack, defense… He is also very dangerous near the zone. He likes to reach the final third, dribble and finish. Pretty good. It’s the best for me”.
The most notable highlight occurred in the Champions League final against Inter on 10 June. He couldn’t do anything in the first half and Guardiola made the risky decision to point him out to his teammates in his halftime speech. “My coach told me to my face that I was wrong, that I was the leader and that I should change my mentality in the second half. But he did it as an incentive.” The maneuver went well and In the 68th minute, Rodri joined the attack after Bernardo Silva reached the goal line and the ball bounced towards the edge of the penalty area. Where did it appear? “My first thought was to pop it but eventually I saw a hole and decided to screw it from the inside to the outside of the defenders.”. The ball came into the net and the goal gave Guardiola’s Manchester City its first Champions League in its history. “The goal should have been Rodri. He’s a super classy player,” Norwegian striker Erling Haaland enthused.
The year after winning prime ministerThe FACup and the Champions League with City ended with Rodri winning the Nations League with Luis de la Fuente’s Spain. Where he was vice-captain. The best player of the final and the Final Four, Rodri was nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2023 and eventually finished fifth. He is a prudent, hard-working, modest and normal man. Anti-football player.