Manchester City’s star player Rodri has pleaded with manager Pep Guardiola to give him a break, confessing that he’s exhausted.
Rodri has been pushing his limits for the champions this season, having started 22 out of their last 24 games across all competitions.
However, the Spanish midfielder believes he needs some downtime after running out of energy and plans to discuss this with Guardiola before their upcoming Premier League match against Luton.
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Despite not losing in 65 consecutive games for both club and country, Rodri was noticeably off form during City’s thrilling 3-3 draw against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Rodri has expressed to Guardiola that he requires some time off if he is to regain his top form and assist City in their quest for back-to-back Trebles.
The midfielder hopes to be rejuvenated ahead of the quarter-final second leg against Real at the Etihad next week.
He stated: “I do need a rest. Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It (rest) is something we are lacking, yeah. Every one of us can do better, even myself. But we need to rest, to be honest.”
Meanwhile, Rodri praised the resilience of his team after they managed to come from being 2-1 down in Madrid to secure a draw, giving them a slight advantage going into the second leg.
He added: “We showed our mentality to come back, to be honest. The media has spoken about rest and it’s important.
“They were a bit fresher than us in the first-half, it’s normal. But I think the mentality of the team to go against them and come back with those goals sums up the champions we are.
“It was a good result for us in terms of how the game was, and everything is open. It’s one game at our home now and we are very strong there.”
City demolished Real 4-0 at the Etihad last season in the semi-finals – and Rodri reckons Guardiola’s men can knock the 14-time winners out of Europe for the second season running.
He added: “Of course we can recreate it.
“We know how strong we are at our home. The key thing in Madrid was we knew whatever happened, it wasn’t going to be over – if we won or lost.
“We have a draw, which is the same result we had last season. In terms of how the game was, it’s a good result in terms of the feeling of the team.
“Now we move to Manchester, to our home and we know how strong we are there.
“If we copy the first 20 to 30 minutes of the second-half, it’s going to be difficult for them. But we will need our crowd to be there for us.”
