You won the treble. You scored the winning goal in the Champions League final. You’ve been hailed as the world’s best all-round midfielder. And you won the UEFA Nations League over the summer, cementing your status as your country’s most important player. Where do you go from there?
With any other player, you might worry about all that success going to their head or causing some degree of complacency. But that’s just not been true of Rodri Hernandez. Yes, his 2022-23 season was stratospheric, but so far in his career, the 27-year-old has taken every giant step forward in stride, and the same is true for every setback, too.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
This is a player with no social media presence — no Twitter, no Instagram — who kept a low profile during Manchester City‘s ecstatic celebrations and who continued his studies in business administration and management long after making it as a professional footballer. Many of the qualities which have made Rodri serve as Pep Guardiola’s on-field avatar at City, and seen him succeed Sergio Busquets with Spain, were present from the beginning. Others came later.
Rodri’s first club was Villanueva de la Canada, a small commuter town with a population of just under 23,000 to the west of Madrid. He went on to play for Rayo Majadahonda’s under-11s and under-12s — making friends with Lucas and Theo Hernandez, now of Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, respectively — before joining Atletico Madrid.
“I studied intensively to clarify some concepts in a short space of time,” Rodri told La Vanguardia. “I did it on my own. [I looked at] footage of [Gerard] Pique and Sergio Ramos. It was important to take in as much as possible.”
And of course, the season ended at Istanbul’s Ataturk Stadium, scoring the biggest goal in Manchester City’s history to earn a 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final in June. City have made winning an annual habit, but following that euphoric high won’t be easy. With captain Ilkay Gundogan leaving for Barcelona, Rodri will be expected to help fill the leadership vacuum. His mentality — unchanged all these years later — is what City need.
“I remember clearly, we were playing in a tournament in Barcelona,” Elena tells ESPN, when asked if one memory sums up Rodri the player and person. “He missed a chance in the 90th minute, and we lost the game. He was really unhappy and upset in the dressing room.
“There’s a difference between playing football and being a footballer. A footballer gets angry when things don’t go their way. They get angry when they misplace a pass. They get angry when they miscontrol. Rodri has that. He would get annoyed. He wouldn’t forgive himself.
“I remember him saying ‘I made a mistake. It’s my fault we lost. It’s my responsibility.’ At the age of 13, having that winning mindset, that showed me he was going to be a professional.”
