Rodri has shared the incredible thing about Manchester City’s backroom staff that gives them an advantage over their rivals.
City swept all before them last season, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – for the first time ever – as part of a historic treble.
While Pep Guardiola and his players must take much of the credit, those feats would not have been achieved without the work of City’s medical staff.
Rodri praises unlikely heroes
Rodri – City’s goal-scoring hero in the Champions League final – has shared what he has noticed about City’s medical team since he joined the club in 2019.
“It’s my fifth year at the club and I watch every day how the medical staff work and I think it’s one of the most professional groups in world football,” the 27-year-old said, via the Daily Mirror.
“When you rise to the best level as a team, you need this. This is maybe the best medical team I have seen, not only in the sense of avoiding injuries but also the ability to play lots of games in good shape and the physicality of the team almost all the season is high.”
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City certainly faired better with injuries than some of their rivals did in 2022/23.
As reported by The Athletic, data from Premier Injuries shows that City suffered 27 individual injuries to players last season, fewer than Newcastle, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
On an injuries per 1,000 minutes basis, City had the fifth-fewest in the Premier League with 5.2, 0.2 more than title challengers Arsenal.
Despite playing the second-highest number of minutes – 5,220 across four competitions – City recorded the fewest days missed because of injury (447) and the fewest game missed through injury (62).
Kalvin Phillips, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake were the only City players to be sidelined for more than a month due to injury.
While there was obviously an element of luck behind City’s injury record, the fact that Guardiola’s players suffered so few ailments despite playing so much football hints at the excellent work the club’s medics do.