There hasn’t been much spotlight since his arrival to Manchester City in 2019. But Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante, got his best spot light when the 2022/23 Champions League final. His flat kick in the penalty box, shot right on target into the left corner of the goal which made new history for City.
The action taken by Rodri last weekend was unexpected. Not Erling Haaland who is always the face of every UCL final poster. Nor are creative wings like Bernardo Silva, but the decider for City’s title is a defensive midfielder. A defensive midfielder, apart from scoring a few goals, they also rarely create assists which spoil the strikers. It is normal for a player with the position of defensive midfielder, his role is often not directly highlighted. Yet their presence – just like the others, is crucial. Rodri is one such example.
“You can pretend a few times, play a slightly different role, but in the end you are who you are,” Rodri said via The Guardian. That’s how Rodri is, in fact, the man who was born in Madrid, 26 years ago, does not like a lot of attention, both on and off the field. On the field, his position is defensive midfielder which, when compared to other positions, his role is not too obvious to the layman.
Even so, Rodri is still a player who can be used as a role model. Because he is someone who really understands his role as a defensive midfielder. Since his arrival at the Etihad Stadium, Rodri has become an irreplaceable player in the squad built by Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola. This can be seen from his average appearance of touching 50 matches per season. He is needed, especially in defending and building attacks.
After four seasons defending City, the record for conceding the 2022/23 season is the best. The Citizens only conceded 33 goals and became the best in the Premier League with Newcastle United. You could say that Rodri plays an important role in helping the back line.
This can be proven through his individual statistics in terms of defense being the best in City. Reporting from Whoscored, Rodri leads the average individual statistics in terms of defensive aspects on his team, such as 1.9 tackles per game, and 0.9 interceptions per game in the Premier League. Meanwhile, in clearances and blocks, he only lost to Ruben Dias.
Not only in defense, Rodri is also good at assisting attacks, especially in the attack building phase. He is a player with an average passing rate of 82.7 per game with a high success percentage of 91.3%. Rodri’s performance has also always gone up in terms of helping the team score goals every year. In his first season, he was only able to score, 4 goals and 2 assists from 52 appearances. It’s normal, for the size of a defensive midfielder.
But this season, he is having his best season in terms of attack. From 56 appearances, he created 4 goals and 7 assists, including the decisive goal in the Champions League final. After four years of defending The Citizens, Rodri has become one of the elite defensive midfielders in England and the World. One thing Pep likes about Rodri is his personality. This is also what makes Rodri different from other players.
“Very few players have one thing on the pitch and another thing that is very different from him (is), his personality,” said Pep. According to Pep, the figure of Rodri represents how a defensive midfielder should look in general. Not much style and simple, just like how a defensive midfielder does on the field.
“He even looks like a quarterback. He has no tattoos or earrings. And the hair. He looks like a holding midfielder, a holding midfielder should be like this,” continued Pep. However, Rodri agrees with his coach’s statement that a midfielder should be a normal person and not have an exaggerated appearance.
“I think what Pep means, is (a) holding midfielder, more than anyone, has to keep order, keep a level head, and maybe that also means being the most normal,” Rodri said as quoted by The Guardian. For Rodri, he doesn’t want to stand out on or off the field at all. He just wants to be like other holding midfielders, who are more concerned with team success, rather than doing things that are more individual and can put him in the spotlight.
Rodri managed to understand his role as a midfielder from a young age, 12 years to be precise. His coach at the Atletico Madrid academy, Fran Alcoy, was the first to give him this position. Fran was also the one who taught little Rodri about the role of a defensive midfielder. At that time, Fran described Rodri in his childhood, as a different normal child. When children his age play football for fun, Rodri actually tries to understand it more. He often invites Fran to discuss how to dissect his game.
“Fran showed me how to play. He was the first to put me in this position. I’m only 12 years old, but I’ve always enjoyed watching football and it’s true that I find it easy to understand, to read the game.” “When a team is successful I can see why, how they create space. This player will do this, that player will do that. It’s not easy to translate that to the pitch but the vision of how a holding midfielder should play, interpreting the game, is something I had from a young age. Fran made it easy for me.” he continued via The Guardian.
More than that, when his father, an engineer who is also a football fan, asked Rodri to be the main star, handle the ball a lot, and score goals, Rodri firmly replied “That’s not my role dad…” said Rodri. “He (father) urged me to move on because the fun part (of football) is scoring goals, but I would say: ‘I like to do this and that’s what I’m good at.’ My parents’ role was very important: they kept everything in check. perspective, doesn’t let me tire or obsess, and I bring that calm to the court. The plan was always to study too.” he continued.
For professional soccer players, maintaining a long-lasting football career is of course the main thing. However, footballers are also entitled to other things in their life, such as playing games, watching other sports or playing social media. In fact, playing social media seems to be mandatory nowadays. As a top European footballer, of course it’s important to play social media to build an image or just create personal branding. However, not for Rodri.
Even when he has won almost every title at club level, also highlighted by his important goal in the final, Rodri still doesn’t have a social media presence. In fact, for athletes of Rodri’s level, it is an anomaly when they don’t have social media.
“I have nothing against social networks, but I live well without them and I think it helps me because you’re not always on the phone,” she said via The Times. “Twitter and bling? I’m too busy studying business.” he continued. Interestingly, of the many things he can do, Rodri prefers to study to fill his free time as a professional footballer.
In an interview with The Guardian, Rodri said that learning is the best healing. He also really likes his college life. “Obviously, football is taking over, but learning is a healthy distraction. You’re dedicated to football 24 hours a day, but you need to clear your head every once in a while: it’s intense and, especially at this level, you can’t afford to go wrong. If you keep thinking about losing, you will pay for it,” said Rodri.
When he came to City, Rodri was also studying, taking courses in Management and Business Administration at Castellon University in his native Spain and completing them in 2021. The player who started his career at the Atletico Madrid academy explained how difficult it was to divide his time between study and football. Moreover, football is a demanding profession.
Rodri also admitted that learning while having a career in the world of football requires patience and a strong will. This is also so that they can finish college while still actively playing, because it will be difficult to divide time for both. “It was a tough job (college and football), but it was fun in the end.” he said quoted from the club’s official website.
“You have time for everything. Of course, it is a very demanding profession as a footballer because it demands that you not only play, train and play, but also the rest and care you have to do for yourself.” he continued. “Of course, you can’t follow the rhythm of other students but with patience, with dedication you can do it.” he closed.
In the end, his success in dividing his time between playing football and studying, has helped to shape Rodri’s character into a complete and intelligent defensive midfielder. It also led him to success as an athlete and student.
His character who is not crazy about the spotlight also makes him suitable as a role model for young defensive midfielders. Namely realizing that everything that is done is for the good. Because history is also in fact not only determined by the front line, but also a defensive midfielder.
ASL
