It was a particularly expensive piece of contingency planning. When Pep Guardiola was considering how Manchester City could cope if they were without Rodri, he put in a bid for Declan Rice. The Englishman instead went to Arsenal for a British record £105m. He will nevertheless take the field when City are deprived of Rodri: but in the opposition on Sunday.
And so Guardiola is confronted by the problem of how to replace the irreplaceable. “Maybe the best or in the top two or three best holding midfielders in the world,” he said of Rodri: his recognition was not dependent on a winning goal in a Champions League final, either.
