Manchester City hero Rodri chases rare quadruple in Nations League

Champions League final star shifts focus to Spain who face Italy for chance to compete in Sunday's final

Manchester City's Rodri celebrates after winning the Champions League final against Inter Milan. Reuters

A packed schedule for the hero of Istanbul. Rodri, still coming to terms with the size of his legacy – as scorer of the most important goal in Manchester City’s history – now turns his mind to transforming his treble into a unique, quick-fire quadruple.

His national team, the Spain he captained in their last competitive match, are in Netherlands to contest the last stage of the Uefa Nations League on Thursday. Beat Italy in Enschede and they contest Sunday’s final. For Rodri and his City colleague Aymeric Laporte, that could mean a fourth trophy in the space of 28 days.

On the penultimate Sunday of May, Rodri and Laporte were under a shower of confetti at the Etihad stadium, brandishing the Premier League. Two weekends later, in London, they were circling the Wembley pitch with the FA Cup.

Seven evenings on, Rodri, having struck the only goal in a taut Champions League final against Inter Milan, was telling reporters of the need to keep the momentum, of a dynasty City must now build. He may first need to build an extension to his personal cabinet of silverware.

Poor Matteo Darmian, the defender whose face so vividly registered Inter’s alarm in the 68th minute in Istanbul as Rodri advanced to meet Bernardo Silva’s cutback and coolly curled his powerful drive around Darmian. Pity Nicolo Barella, the Inter midfielder who was sprinting, in vain, to cover the space Rodri exploited. Both are in Enschede with Italy and would be forgiven for feeling they have spent quite enough of their June trying to track Rodri’s midfield runs.

Darmian’s two partners in the Inter back three, Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Bastoni, are also with Italy, as is the Inter wing-back Federico Dimarco. They were all congratulated for a valiant season by Roberto Mancini, the national head coach as they gathered for Azzurri duty.

It has been a curious week for Mancini, too. He has his own storied history at City, one that included delivering the club’s first Premier League title as their manager 11 years ago and several episodes of frustration with City in Europe.

Part of Mancini’s task this week has been to lift Italy’s spirits. Besides the five Inter men, his Roma duo Lorenzo Pellegrini and Leo Spinazzola lost a major final at the end of the club season, beaten on penalties in the Europa League by Sevilla.

Mancini knows a season in which Serie A acquitted itself well – Fiorentina were in the Europa Conference League final, and Napoli admired domestic champions – needs a national team heading in an upward direction.

Italy, who will next summer defend their European championship title, failed to reach the 2022 World Cup, a second successive absence from international football’s greatest showpiece. And contests with Spain tend to act as a barometer of the Azzurri’s state of health.

Jordi Alba, who by dint of seniority will captain the Spaniards on Thursday, was part of the Spain side who beat Italy to win the Euro 2012 final. Mancini’s Italians defeated Spain on penalties in the semi-finals of Euro 2020; they then lost to Spain in the semi of the last Nations League finals, won by France.

On the other side, a new Spain era takes shape. Sergio Busquets, Spain’s previous skipper, has retired from national duty and the central midfield berth he filled for well over a decade is earmarked for Rodri, 26, whose high-achieving year has followed a curious path.

At the World Cup in Qatar, he was deployed at centre-back by his country, usually in partnership with Laporte. At City, he was meanwhile being encouraged to take up positions higher up the pitch than his anchor role had previously defined for him, thanks partly to City manager Pep Guardiola’s using John Stones as a hybrid defender-cum-midfielder.

Key Rodri goals were part of the dividend: against Bayern Munich in the Champions League last-eight and in the historic final. The new Spain head coach, Luis de la Fuente, who took over from Luis Enrique after the World Cup, likes that aspect of Rodri’s game and has so far rejected the idea of using him in the centre of defence.

He wants Spain to benefit from his soaring confidence. “He could not be more motivated,” De la Fuente said of Rodri. “Our City players have arrived here with exceptional motivation. They’ve just made history.”

Would Rodri and Laporte be sufficiently fresh, after the drawn-out celebrations of the treble, to play against Italy? “They’re responsible professionals. I’m certain they will be ready if needed.”