History was made on Sunday night. Spain lifted their fourth Euro Cup after defeating England as the roads of Berlin were taken over by a sea of red and yellow mass. While celebrations sparked in their homeland, two of the anchors were seen exchanging words between them. While the video did not reveal what they said, it looked extremely encouraging as Rodri locked up in a firm embrace with Lamine Yamal.
The just-turned-17-year-old ruled throughout the competition and the game against England was no different. He made the opening goal with a delightful link-up with his partner in crime, Nico Williams. However, Rodri was unfortunately forced to leave the field during half-time with an injury. The sadness of not seeing the job out was there, but that was eclipsed after an hour with the beaming sight of the trophy on the podium.
The video of Yamal and Rodri soon went viral among the other posts depicting the celebratory scenes. Thanks to a Spanish-speaking user, Rodri’s words were decrypted. ‘Sigue trabajando hermano, sigue trabajando porque puedes conseguir lo que quieras,’ were the words spoken by Rodri. Thanks to our good old reliable Google translations, the message became clear for the English readers. ‘Keep working brother, keep working because you can get whatever you want’- this was what Yamal heard from his teammate.
Rodri did not stop there. He heaped more praise on the Spanish wonderkid during the post-game press conference.
‘I see a maturity in him that I don’t know if I’ve ever seen, honestly. And I see potential, a player… I couldn’t tell you Lamine’s ceiling. We will know in a few years. In five or six years, we’ll see. In one or two years it will be one of the best in the world. But above all, I see him as a very calm boy, with a desire to learn. And supportive,’ the Player Of The Tournament said about the Young Player Of The Tournament.
The public pleasantries started after Yamal’s father, Mounir, better known as Hustle Hard 304, posted a picture with Rodri. He was seen standing alongside wearing a Spanish jersey with a red and yellow wig. He captioned the photo, ‘With the great Rodri.’
Simple introduction, but that’s everything that describes Rodri: a great midfielder, a great leader and a great inspiration. The hub of Spain and Manchester City‘s midfield is everything a manager looks for in a CDM. Press resistance on the ball, high positional acumen and strong tackling ability. His bullet of a right foot isn’t bad either – ask the City fans who travelled to Istanbul for the 2023 UCL final.
These qualities were identified and lauded by his club manager, Pep Guardiola. ‘An incredible professional in training. Never I saw a session from him being a little flat or distracted, always focussed and encouraging mates. A true leader on the pitch, so competitive, and learned all the tricks to be a holding midfielder,’ Guardiola said earlier this year.
Rodri knows this quality of his as well. ‘On the pitch sometimes you have to change the mentality. I’m a winner and sometimes when you want to win and if they’re trying to do something you have to do also do that,’- Rodri’s words couldn’t be any clearer to show how a champion’s mind works to improvise at any given moment.
That mentality was on full display against France during the closing stages of the game. Every French attack was mopped away with Rodri using his vice-like clutches on the ball as a white shirt tried to make inroads. After France took the lead through Randal Kolo Muani in the 9th minute, Spain roared back with Yamal’s terrific curling effort from outside the box. After it found the net off the upright, Dani Olmo added a second and Spain from that point on successfully fended off France. Rodri made sure to pull the strings from deep with 95% pass success. He also made a staggering number of 6 recoveries and 3 clearances, with a 40% tackle success on the floor.
In the final, he wasn’t able to do that, but after the match, he certainly made sure to exert his influence over his teammates.
Will Lamal reach the sky-high ceiling he has? With a guy like Rodri around who constantly strives for greatness, that is a character Yamal buys into. After all, silk and steel go hand-in-hand on any winning team.