In the long confession to the microphones of The Players’ Tribunethe Spanish midfielder Rodri does not only tell the initial difficulties and his long journey towards international success that could lead him to the Ballon d’Or. The totem of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, in fact, also returns to the Champions League final against Inter and the decisive goal, which bore his signature. Below is the story of the European champion.
“When I scored the goal in the 2023 Champions League final, I hadn’t calculated it. It was a sensation, from 20 years of football. A second before Bernardo Silva crossed, I was actually very far from the ball. There was really no chance of the ball coming to me. I should have stayed still. But I took a step forward towards the box. 99 times out of 100, when Bernardo crosses, the ball will never come to me. I saw the ball bounce towards me. It just happened like that, in a flash. Pure instinct. When the ball went in, I ran away and did a knee slide in front of our fans.”