At those events where his teammates take advantage of the opportunity to feel elegant, far from their daily tracksuits, some seeking to forget a past of deprivation, Rodri Hernández shows up wearing a sweatshirt from a brand devoid of glamour. “Where do you go dressed like that? Why don’t you go to Balenciaga or Gucci?”, one of his Manchester City teammates reproached him, half jokingly. “It’s incredible…” Rodri replied to the critics of his attire in an interview on COPE; “then you see some painted person out there and they think they are the role model. Coming from those who tell me that… Mother of God.”
He doesn’t care about clothes and he doesn’t have or want tattoos. He does like music. Among his favorite artists, according to those who know him, is the Italian Laura Pausini. And he is one of the first to get excited when the music is playing in the locker room. Wild Filly by Isabel Aaiún, one of the songs that are part of the Spotify list that Álvaro Morata created under the title of Eurocup. “I wasn’t very imaginative with the name,” the captain says with amusement. The idea was for everyone to put up a song. “I put up two (Believer from Imagine Dragons and Highway to Hell “AC/DC). I am the captain. So far nobody has noticed,” says the striker. But others like Nacho and Unai Simon have not played any. “I leave it to the youngsters,” explains Nacho. And the youngsters, led by Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, insist on playing There is Lupita from Lomiiel. The veteran group frowns when it rings. “It’s very bad,” says one of the leaders. Not so for Rodri.
The number 16 is having fun with Lamine and Nico. However, he doesn’t hesitate to call them out when the two Euro pearls are guilty of being rookies. “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a joker. But sometimes I have to put on a mask. I’m one of the captains now. Nico and Lamine sometimes have to be asked to be calm and concentrate. In the talks, they are the last to fall: “You’re 16, don’t be the last to come here,” explains the City midfielder.
Clothes, no; music, yes; and fun, when it comes to it. Although he always has one eye on business —he studied Business Administration—, Rodri likes nothing more than football. Sometimes, even too much.
“Rodri has a problem,” Kun Agüero recalls; “either he speaks too loudly or too quietly.” On a coach trip after a Manchester City match, Agüero and Rodri were sitting next to each other. The midfielder was having one of those days when, in a conversation on the phone, he was analysing the match out loud. “You’re not playing next Sunday,” Agüero told him as he pointed to the seat closest to them: Pep Guardiola. “No sooner said than done, he didn’t play the next match,” the Argentine concluded.
It was all just an anecdote. Neither Guardiola stopped pampering Rodri, nor Rodri stopped thinking about the game. “I always rewatch the entire game. Especially if I think there are things that can be improved. There are many things that you don’t see on the field. Sometimes, I find things that I don’t even remember happening,” revealed Rodri, in a conversation with The Guardian.
And there is probably nothing better for a football obsessive than to cross paths with Guardiola. After a first season in Manchester without much prominence, the City technical office was considering a loan for the Madrid native. But the coaching staff put a stop to it: they wanted Rodri close to Pep. “I have respect for him because I know how he came to England and how he has adapted,” describes Rice, his nemesis in the English national team. “When a pivot has many appearances in the highlights “The best midfielder in the world is Rodri. He scores goals in important games. He is an incredible player. He is the best midfielder in the world by far. He can do whatever he wants, he controls the timing of the game, he has character, when things get tough he steps up. It is very difficult to understand what we have done in recent years without him.”
Usually exaggerated in his praise, Guardiola is not exaggerating this time. Rodri scored in the 2023 Champions League final, City’s first European Cup, Pep’s first away from Camp Nou. He also appeared to put his name on the scoreboard at the Euros. In the round of 16, when it seemed that the match would be won with pedigree, Georgia scared Spain. La Roja could not control the duel until Rodri shouted: “Calm down.” A few minutes later, he scored the 1-1 in a match that ended in a rout (4-1). “I try to give movement, dynamism and rhythm to the team. I need to connect with the players in front of me as soon as possible, help the game mature. I have to interpret it, take it wherever it is. That is what most defines the role of the pivot: when to accelerate, when to slow down, when to press higher, when to move deeper,” explains Rodri.
His game transcends Spain, including Manchester. Football surrenders to the Madrid native, even if he hides from the spotlight. “I am very sorry, but I do not play for marketing or individual awards,” says Rodri. He will be invisible to France Footballnot for his rivals. “He is a top player. He was born and raised in the tradition of Spanish midfield, with players like Busquets and Xabi Alonso,” insists Rice.
If Vicente Del Bosque said that if he “had to be reincarnated as another footballer it would be Busquets”, De la Fuente describes Rodri as the “perfect computer”.
Rodri doesn’t fit the cliché of modern football: he doesn’t abide by its dress code and dreams of having his own company. He does like, however, to joke around with the kids to the rhythm of the locker room music until it’s time to get serious. And for Rodri there is nothing more serious than football. And no wonder: he is the brain of La Roja.
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