10 June 2023 , 21:35
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Rodri admitted he had played "s***" moments after helping Manchester City to win the Champions League final.
Pep Guardiola's men finally ended their hoodoo with the competition to win a historic treble. Rodri was the man to score the crucial goal, firing in a stunner from the edge of the box to ensure it was City celebrating at the final whistle.
But while the midfielder proved to be the matchwinner at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, he was not pleased with his own performance. Inter had frustrated the Premier League champions for much of the evening, with the game goalless until Rodri struck with 22 minutes remaining.
Rodri was the first City player to be interviewed after the final whistle and admitted that he felt he had not played well. He hailed his team-mates for their achievement and Inter for the fight they put up.
"I’m emotional. This is a dream come true. All these guys [the fans] around here, waited I don’t know how many years - 20, 30, 40. I’ve been here just four but we deserve. The last years we were so close, it is a dream for all of us," he said.
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"I think we made history, but the good thing is that we want more. This group has more ambition, but this is a dream we have to enjoy because these moments never happen again. Of course we hope next year, it is so difficult, but we deserve to celebrate.
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Rodri sored Man City's winner as the won the Champions League (AFP via Getty Images)"What a team we faced. Unbelievable. The way they defend and the way they counter attack, they deserve lots of credit because they are a great team. But, I don’t want to forget about my lads. We gave everything.
"It was an unbelievable effort from everyone. I wasn’t good in the first half, I was playing s*** to be honest, and then this shows the mentality to overcome the situation in the end. I scored a goal, unbelievable."
City are only the second English team in history to win the treble, after Manchester United in 1999. And former United star Rio Ferdinand was full of praise for Guardiola's men, demanding statues be erected in their honour.
"Immortal. Statues galore. They’ve earned it. Listen, this team have played a brand of football that is looked at around the world and is admired. This has been a project and a process for many years now with Pep Guardiola coming in," he told BT Sport.
"But these players have produced some football that has been out of this world individually, but as a collective this team will go down in history. They deserve to. A fantastic team. They’ve dug deep when they’ve needed to and they’ve been able to play both sides of the game.
"That’s been the difference between this Manchester City team to past ones. They can pass, they can play the fairytale football, but when need be they can dig in, roll their sleeves up and fight through games as well. Balance is everything in this team."