Rodri, the Manchester City midfielder, has openly expressed his need for a break and has mentioned that the club is working on a plan to provide him with a well-deserved rest in the upcoming weeks.
After being a crucial part of Man City’s historic treble victory last season, Rodri stated in August 2023 that playing 60 games a season is not sustainable. Despite this, the Spain international has continued to be a vital player for Pep Guardiola, making 41 appearances across all competitions this season, starting in each of those matches and playing the full 90 minutes in 31 of them.
In the 2023-24 campaign, only nine outfield players in Europe’s top-five leagues have accumulated more minutes than Rodri’s 3,498, with one of them being his Man City teammate Phil Foden with 3,560 minutes.
Rodri’s most recent performance was in the thrilling 3-3 draw against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.
Rodri completed the entire 90 minutes in the match against Los Blancos, however, he had been substituted in the last 15 minutes of the Premier League games against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, both of which City won 4-1 and 4-2 respectively.
The 27-year-old, who appeared fatigued and unusually made some inaccurate passes during the game at the Bernabeu, has now acknowledged that the busy schedule of Man City is starting to affect him.