Rodri joins Lionel Messi in historic club with Man City Champions League final start
A remarkable statistic, highlighting the reliability of Manchester City midfielder Rodri, has come to the fore late on Saturday evening.
This comes as the Spaniard prepares to take to the pitch for the Sky Blues’ biggest fixture of the season.
Eyeing both a first-ever Champions League title, and treble, Pep Guardiola’s troops will soon take to the pitch at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, for a showdown with Italian giants Inter Milan.
Rodri, as expected, was named in City’s starting XI for the clash, taking his customary place at the base of the Premier League champions’ engine room.
🩵 TEAM NEWS 🩵
XI | Ederson, Akanji, Stones, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Gundogan (C), De Bruyne, Bernardo, Grealish, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Walker, Phillips, Laporte, Alvarez, Gomez, Mahrez, Perrone, Foden, Palmer, Lewis#ManCity | #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/6eYE8aTGTH
— Manchester City (@ManCity) June 10, 2023
And, as a result, the former Atletico Madrid standout is in line to enter an exclusive club.
As revealed by statisticians Opta, Rodri’s start tonight, remarkably, will mark his 52nd of the season to date.
The only man to have managed more? Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, during the iconic pair’s time together at Barcelona.
52 – Rodri is making his 52nd start of the season for Manchester City in all competitions – across Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, the only outfield player to have started more games in a single campaign under him was Lionel Messi in 2011-12 (57). Pivotal. #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/03HJJzEkyx
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 10, 2023
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