Manchester City star Rodri has revealed how he had to tell manager Pep Guardiola to stop obsessing over tactics and enjoy the present.
The year 2023 will go down as arguably the best in the history of the Manchester club after they claimed five trophies, namely the UEFA Champions League, the FA Cup, the Premier League, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.
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One of the players who was instrumental in the team's unprecedented success was Rodri, with the Spaniard scoring the winner in the Champions League final and getting the Man of the Match award that night too.
Reflecting on that iconic moment recently, the defensive midfielder revealed that Guardiola still tried to talk to him about tactics even after the final whistle had been blown, prompting him to tell his boss to relax and enjoy the moment.
"When you achieve something like that your heart opens, you say what you feel. Pep grabbed me with the emotion of the moment," Rodri explained, according to Spanish outlet AS.
"He told me: 'We finally got it.' I remember that we lifted the Champions League and he was still explaining concepts of the game to me, why we had done this well and not that, why we had not found the third man when the ball was released.
"I told him: 'Mister, let's enjoy it, let's enjoy! Let's celebrate it! There will be time for that next year!'
"Up to that level, he is a coach who cares. We deserved the Champions League.
"... Pep recently spoke to me about the happiness he gets when the team feels comfortable and superior, beyond the results.
"We had detected the way in which the team was best distributed. People felt comfortable on the field. It was like the culmination of having tried different systems: with the fullback inside, with a line of three, playing with lanes.
"We have matured a lot as a club, as a team. We have brought people who have done well for the team not only in terms of football, but also at a hierarchy level, with a good atmosphere. That shows in the field.
"That a player saves a goal on the line and three or four players go to applaud him, those are details. Like when you lose and there are doubts, and it is in those moments when you see that there is a team.
"We have managed to form a great family."
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