Dimitar Berbatov has been speaking about Rodri after the Manchester City No.16 received a straight red card last time out in the Premier League.
The 42-year-old was speaking to the Metro about the situation.
So, what was said about Rodri? Let’s take a look…
What’s the story?
Well, Berbatov claims that the Spaniard thinks he’s the big dog compared to Premier League rivals such as Morgan Gibbs-White.
The Bulgarian – who was actually the subject of a £30m bid from Manchester City back in September 2008 – said: “Last time out, Rodri should have known better of course, but sometimes emotions take over. People who haven’t played don’t understand this, but these emotions come from confidence.
“When somebody from Nottingham Forest comes over and tries to irritate you, you think ‘How dare you?’. Rodri thinks he’s the big dog. Believe me, players can think like this. I think Gibbs-White overreacted a bit, but rules are rules. If you touch the neck, you’re off.”
We aren’t exactly sure what the 27-year-old was thinking when he decided to throttle the Nottingham Forest No.10 last week, so perhaps it was a bit of arrogance kicking in.
Rodri is usually so calm and in control of his actions, so it was a very uncharacteristic moment – to say the least.
Rodri will learn from his first Manchester City red card
Pep Guardiola admitted after the 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest that he was angry with the Spain international, and rightly so.
Presumably, the 52-year-old gave Rodri the hairdryer treatment in the dressing room, as we often saw him do to the entire squad during Manchester City’s All or Nothing documentary on Amazon Prime.
The £62.8m man is too important to Manchester City to be getting himself banned for three games, so hopefully, it is the first and only red card of his career at the Etihad Stadium.
