Premier League Champions Manchester City are looking to win a record fourth consecutive title this season and Rodri has sent a direct warning to their rivals.
Rodri has earned quite a habit of scoring crucial goals, with the latest coming in the 88th minute in the winner against Sheffield United on Sunday. The Spaniard strike was also crucial making the defending champions the only side to win the first three opening games.
The defensive midfielder has come up with some crucial goals for City in recent years, including the winner against Inter Milan in the Champions League final to complete the Treble last season.
Rodri was also involved in the win against Villa in the 2020 League Cup final at Wembley, scoring the winner and is now determined to add more goals after making it two in three games at Bramall Lane:
Rodri ready to improve goal-scoring numbers for City
“I think I can improve in these terms, even though I know it’s not my role,” said Rodri.
“I know I can do it. In some situations, where I read the game and pay attention to the strikers and the wingers, I can take advantage of this space in the final third that they generate. I’m trying to improve in this sense.”
Asked if with the addition of Mateo Kovacic this season he will be enabled to get forward more and provide a bigger goal threat, particularly with Kevin De Bruyne out injured for the first part of the season.
He said: “If he plays next to me, yes. Ilkay and Kevin played much higher than me, so I needed to cover them, but now with Mateo I can go forward more.
“He’s a very experienced player and a smart player. It’s easy to play with him. He has a special ability to break lines with the ball and he speaks fluent Spanish, so it’s even easier to communicate with him” .
The Premier League champions showed they can grind out a win without Pep Guardiola with him being absent on Sunday, as he recovers from back surgery.
Rodri said City showed that winning mentality to fight back immediately to regain the lead and clinch victory. “Even though we conceded in the 85th minute, we had time until the end,” said Rodri.
“This says a little bit about the personality of this team. We know now with extra time you still have 10 to 15 minutes to go, so we had the mentality that we could score again”.
“The game has changed. Added time is now an extra 10 percent of the game. I don’t like it, I don’t think it’s good for football, because this is when bodies are the most tired and you’ve seen what’s going on with injuries at the beginning of the season. But football is changing, so we have to adapt.”
