While news of his physical condition was awaited after the match between Manchester City and Arsenal, Pep Guardiola made it clear what value he places on Rodri Hernández. “He is the best midfielder in the world,” concluded the Catalan coach, who before becoming a midfielder was a cook in that role. Now he will have to do without his most undisputed player, at least for the immediate future. Rodri’s right knee is a big concern, and he could even miss the entire season if the worst predictions come true. A torn cruciate ligament would force him to undergo surgery and take on long weeks of recovery. “He is a potential Ballon d’Or winner,” explained Guardiola after the match that ended in a draw against Arsenal and bad news about the Madrid player. In effect, Rodri’s presence at least on the podium for the best player in the world is taken for granted at the gala that will take place on October 28 and in which he hopes to be the second Spaniard, after Luis Suárez, to win the award. But it will be in dry dock.
The injury came at the end of a week in which he had raised his voice against the saturation of the calendar to which footballers are subjected. Rodri played 63 games last season, ten of them with the Spanish national team and fifty with his team, not counting three friendlies. He began the preseason on July 17, 2023 with a tour of the Far East and finished it on July 14, 2024 with the Euro final in Berlin, a game from which he had to leave at half-time due to injury. Last season, with City collecting finals, he played 70 games, so after several seasons with an exhausting schedule, Guardiola decided to pace him this summer. Thus, it was reported that a thigh injury kept him out of the Community Shield on August 10.
In fact, he had returned to his team three days before that match. He also did not play the first three Premier League matches or the Nations League match with La Roja in Serbia. He made his debut with the national team on the 8th in Switzerland, playing just one hour, then he played half a part against Brentford, played the Champions League match against Inter and was knocked out by Arsenal after twenty minutes. The injury seemed accidental, a bad step, but he had already warned that he was at the limit. “From my experience I can say that playing 60 or 70 matches is not optimal. A player can perhaps be at the top level if he plays between 40 and 50 matches. After that you drop because it is impossible to maintain the physical level. This year we may reach 80, and in my humble opinion this is too much. Someone should look after us because we are the protagonists of this sport, business or whatever you want to call it. If people want to see better football, we have to rest.”
Rodri, who has a contract with City until June 2027, said that the players are already considering putting pressure on him to stop the demands and explained that the break after the European Championship had been good for him. “I had a month and a half off, which ended up being two months. It was good for me to stop and prepare. Also to disconnect mentally,” he warned. But all plans have fallen apart with an injury that comes at his best moment as a footballer, when he was valued as a universal reference in his midfield position.
