Despite having won the Ballon d’Or, Rodri would perhaps be gutted that he cannot play football currently due to nursing a season-ending ACL injury.
Pep Guardiola congratulated Rodri and expressed Manchester City were “proud” of him after he beat Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday.
Rodri reacted to his Ballon d’Or win by expressing his joy at hitting what was potentially the summit of his career by being recognised as the winner of the award.
Rodri was Manchester City’s only winner on the night with Carlo Ancelotti and Lamine Yamal winning the Men’s Coach of the Year and Kopa Trophy over Pep Guardiola and Savinho respectively — with the latter finishing in fourth place.
But the Manchester City midfielder’s primary focus after celebrating his accolade is to continue working on becoming fully fit.
Rodri will be itching to remind both his admirers and his critics why he is the best player on the planet.
- READ MORE: Who is Rodri? Get to know Man City’s modest midfield maestro who won a Champions League final
Frank Lampard says Rodri is “the best midfield player in the world”
Toni Kroos criticised Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win, despite playing a similar role of a conductor for Real Madrid throughout his spell at the club.
Vinicius’ reaction to the Ballon d’Or verdict was also one that will divide opinion as he did not congratulate the Spaniard and instead went on to express his seeming frustration.
In an interview with Frank Lampard for the Premier League’s official YouTube channel, Rodri was first told about the Chelsea legend about how brilliant a pass he played against Arsenal while being shown a clip.
“The beauty of this one, not just that you push [Martin] Odegaard off the ball, use your body strength and then turn away. But it’s that moment, the pass.”
Lampard went on to claim that due to moment such as the aforementioned pass is why he views him as the best midfielder in the world.
“For me, that’s the difference when we talk about players your level now, you’ve elevated yourself to, for me, the best midfield player in the world.”
Frank Lampard has praised Rodri by describing him as a “midfield maestro” in the past as well.
Rodri said defensive midfielders are “more important” than strikers
While the Spaniard has always come across as quite humble, he did tell ESPN FC during an interview that in his view, the holding midfield role is more important to a team than that of a striker.
Rodri said: “I understand the debate. I understand the people that say that they don’t see what they can see in a winger, in a striker in a holding midfielder because we do such a different task on the pitch.”
“And I understand because football is about goals, it’s about the excitement of scoring and I get it. But on the other hand, I can assure you that being a midfielder or a defender is as beautiful as being a striker. It has different things to manage in a game.”
Rodri added: “In my opinion, the holding midfielders have a bigger role in football than a striker. I think it might be more difficult to score goals. I think we all agree it’s the most difficult thing in football and there are a few players that can score 30, 40 goals in a season. But the role, in terms of football is more important.”
Considering the 28-year-old adds so much value to the role of a defensive midfielder, he would perhaps have felt Frank Lampard’s view of him amongst other players in the middle of the park is a fair one.
After Rodri’s Ballon d’Or triumph, not many would dispute Lampard’s claim as well.
