Teammates were furious
Rodri has revealed what made his teammates ‘want to kill him’ during his early days at Manchester City.
Since joining the club in 2019, he has had nothing short of a spectacular career so far.
Not only has he won four successive Premier League titles, but he also scored the elusive Champions League winner to guide City to European glory for the first time.
During his early days at the club, Rodri spent a lot of his spare time face-timing his girlfriend Laura Iglesias, who he originally met at university.
He would take the opportunity to speak to her at any given point – including even on the team bus.
Speaking to the Players Tribune in an exclusive interview, Rodri revealed how much it would annoy his teammates:
“[Sergio] Aguero and [Nicolas] Otamendi actually used to make fun of me all the time — not just for my clothes, but because I used to get on the bus after every match and FaceTime my missus,” Rodri started.
“Since I’m a footballer and she is a doctor, we had to get used to being long-distance for many years. What do you do when you’re long-distance? You FaceTime.
“I’d call her after every game, win or lose. When we won, it was no problem, because the boys would be rowdy and celebrating and they wouldn’t notice.
“But when we lost, I was still just my normal self. I had no filter. When I speak to my missus, it’s like my brain flips back to being in uni. I become Rodrigo again.
“So it would be dead silent on the bus, everyone with their heads down, all depressed, and I’d be talking loudly, saying, ‘Yeah, we were a bit s*** today, to be honest. Yeah, yeah, we drew. Yeah, I’m pissed…. Anyway, how was your day?’
“The first time, Aguero and Otamendi pulled me aside and they said, ‘Man, you can’t be talking like that on the bus! Pep can hear you! Everyone can hear you!’
“But after every match, I would call her. No filter. ‘Yeah, it was OK today. We won, but I played kind of s***. Are you watching Netflix? What are you eating?'”
“We were like two teenagers. Everyone was so annoyed. They would be trying to grab the phone from me: ‘He will call you back! Rodri, hang up the phone! He has to go now! Bye-bye!”
“They wanted to kill me, but I didn’t care. When I leave the pitch, my goal is to always make sure that my feet are on the floor. I think sometimes people misunderstand that part of me.”
