Under an intense whistle, while Spain dominated the ball but could not find Mamardashvili's goal, Rodri stood in front of the leather for a few seconds. He moved his arms. He asked his companions to calm down. Surprise had taken over the match in Cologne and the dream of the Georgian fans – they had a flag with the text 'Believe' in the middle of the stands – was in danger of becoming reality. But not for Rodri. Luis de la Fuente's football manager had other plans for La Roja and they were not the same as those of the Georgian fans. Rodri won, that is to say: patience won.
4
Unai Simón, Cucurella (Grimaldo, min. 66), Dani Carvajal (Jesús Navas, min. 80), Le Normand, Laporte, Pedri (Dani Olmo, min. 52), Fabián (Merino, min. 81), Rodrigo, Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Morata (Oyarzabal, min. 66)
1
Mamardashvili, Luka Lochoshvili (Heorhii Tsitaishvili, min. 63), Kashia, Dvali, Giorgi Gvelesiani, Kakabadze, Giorgi Chakvetadze (Zuriko Davitashvili, min. 63), Giorgi Kochorashvili, Otar Kiteishvili, Georges Mikautadze (Budu Zivzivadze, min. 79) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Goals 0-1 min. 17: Le Normand (pp). 1-1 min. 38: Rodrigo. 2-1 min. 51: Fabian. 3-1 min. 75: Nico Williams. 4-1 min. 83: Dani Olmo.
Referee François Letexier
Yellow cards Morata (min. 43) and Zuriko Davitashvili (min. 70)
After the victory against Albania, with Georgia already on the calendar, Luis de la Fuente repeated a sentence in the Spanish base camp in Donaueschingen: “I don’t want a long game.” The coach tried to teach his players that they had to beat Georgia. And it had to happen from minute zero, without mercy and much less memory: you didn’t even have to think about the 10-2 total scored against Willy Sagnol’s team in the qualifying phase for the European Championship in Germany (1-7 in Tbilisi and 3-1 in Valladolid). “You have to push and push. The goal has to come quickly,” the Spanish coach told his players in the run-up to the eighth leg. But it wasn’t like that. And Rodri, the MVP of the game, had the key.
La Roja found themselves in the first line of five in the defence of the European Championship. But also with a team that did not take a minute to corner itself in front of Mamardashvili, one of the most reliable goalkeepers in the European Championship. Traffic in the interior, also on the sidelines, the Georgians doubled up to stop Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal. In the 18th minute, when Spain dominated the ball 85% of the time and had already tried eight shots, a counterattack by Georgia ended with the ball in the net of Unai Simón's goal. He had not even managed to touch the Kvaratskhelia ball. The job for Georgia was cleared by luck, bad for Le Normand, who scored an own goal. The game did not change after Georgia's goal, of course. Even Sagnol's team did not tighten their defence. Going back further was almost impossible. So Spain had to resort to another weapon. An old recipe that I had used in the past: patience. And for that formula, few players are smarter than Rodri.
The office of the 16th
Rodri learned to defend under Diego Simeone and attack under Pep Guardiola, few lessons that can be better combined in modern football. But the jump from the intense Metropolitano to the lyrical Etihad Stadium wasn’t easy for the Madrid ace. It wasn’t until his second season with the Manchester team that Rodri found his place in the starting eleven. He had to learn essentially the same thing he asked his team-mates to learn against Georgia: patience. “Pep gives you a toolbox that you can use on the pitch,” Rodri recalls. Moreover, the midfielder who was trained in the red and white youth system usually emphasises that one of the most revealing lessons he learned under Guardiola’s guidance is to stay calm in matches.
Last season, when City could not find the bridges to overcome the tough defense of Nottingham Forest, one of the teams battling relegation in the Premier, Rodri shouted to his teammates not to lose their cool. City won 0-2. A few months later, in Cologne, the kingpin asked his teammates the same thing. I didn't want the fear, especially that of the youngest players, the two pearls of the Reds on the wings (Lamine and Nico), to make Spain desperate. And it was precisely Rodri who brought peace to Spain. He scored the draw that ended in victory and the ticket to the quarter-finals. Germany waits, but Rodri does not despair.
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