Former Premier League manager Tim Sherwood has expressed his surprise about how big Rodri actually is in real life, and branded many of the current Man City squad ‘machines’.
The former Aston Villa head coach was speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.
City are currently gearing up for the Champions League final on Saturday.
Inter are the final hurdle in their quest for the Treble, and are looking to cause an upset in Istanbul.
City go into the game in sensational form, and are have just won the FA Cup.
The feeling is that City should be sweeping Inter aside. But of course, it is not that simple. Inter are in the final for a reason and deserve respect.
Pep Guardiola probably knows the team he will pick to start by now – and it’s likely we’ll be seeing a lot of City’s powerhouses.
Tim Sherwood shocked by how big Rodri and other Man City stars are
When people think of City, the first thought is usually how technical the players are.
Pep Guardiola has always loved players who are light on their feet and good at protecting the ball.
But over the years, City have actually developed into a fearsome team physically, too.
There are now a number of players in the team well over 6ft tall.
After Sam Allardyce had praised one such player in Manuel Akanji, Sherwood said: “When you stand next to them, you did it yourself Sam, how big are they?! How big is Rodri?! I mean, he’s 6ft 5in this kid.
“They are powerful. There’s only Bernardo. The rest of them are absolute machines, aren’t they.
“You want to fight them, they’ll beat you up. You want to play football against them, they’ll do that as well. Incredible.”
At 1.90m, £63 million star Rodri is one of City’s tallest players. He is just slightly shorter than Erling Haaland and Ederson though.
Manchester City’s physicality is really underrated
Sherwood has obviously done media work that has taken him quite close to City’s players to make this assessment.
And he is certainly right – a lot of Guardiola’s players are machines.
The likes of Akanji, Ruben Dias, Ederson, John Stones, Haaland, Rodri, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish are all impressively powerful players with excellent physiques which allow them to win their battles.
As good and pleasing on the eye as City are on the ball, the general physicality of the team is very, very good.
