“I lack marketing to win the Ballon d’Or”
MADRID, 18 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish international Rodri Hernández has assured that he would “love” to meet with the Spanish internationals so that they can tell them their demands because they have a “lack of information”, and has confessed that it “saddens” him that they have been world champions and that “they have not have had the recognition they deserve.”
“It is difficult to make an analysis or an opinion about something that you do not know: what the problems are, what has happened. The footballer shows solidarity when you see that they are not satisfied. We have heard that call from women’s football to improve conditions, but we have a shortage of information. We don’t know the day-to-day life with them,” he declared in an interview with ‘El Partidazo de COPE’.
In addition, he addressed the accusations that the statement from the men’s team supporting the women’s team arrived late. “They said that the statement had arrived late, but it was the first day that we all got together. Each player is in their club, with their stories, and a joint opinion can only be made when we are all together. The first day that we concentrated We talked about the issue and we knew that we had to do something, that we had to give visibility to the problems and that we had to show solidarity,” he said.
In this sense, he recalled that “getting an opinion from 25 people is not easy.” “We prepared a statement in which each of the players agreed, you cannot issue a statement in which 7-8 players do not agree. Hence they say that we should not get involved. What saddens us is that have been world champions and have not had the recognition they deserve. They have achieved a historic milestone,” he stated.
Regarding whether he would like to speak with them, the Manchester City midfielder was very forceful. “I would love to, because I would have first-hand information,” he said. “They may comment on things that we cannot decide on. We can show solidarity, support, but we cannot get involved in the decision-making. People don’t believe it, but we are attentive and we show solidarity with our teammates” , he continued.
Regarding his role in ‘la Roja’, the man from Madrid recognizes that he feels like a leader. “I try to act as a leader, the figure of the defensive midfielder invites you to do so, you control all the positions. Even when it is not your turn to assume that role, you do it. There are starting to be players who are not as veteran as me. Morata, Carvajal and I “We try to exercise. We have a very young team,” he stated.
Furthermore, he was very optimistic about the future of the team. “Gavi, Pedri, Lamine, Nico Williams… many have already played in a European Championship. We are coming from a transition and now these guys are consolidating. I am happy with giving them guidelines,” he said.
On the other hand, he revealed that he gave clues to his teammates to dry out Erling Haaland in the match against Norway in the qualifying phase for Euro 2024. “I spoke to him the night before and I calmed him down, I told him not to move a lot,” he joked.
“Laporte already knows him, and I gave the rest some guidelines on where he is most decisive. We do not allow him to be in those areas where he is most decisive. We have to look for the weaknesses, and I know it perfectly. He does not have many points weak, but we maximize the information,” he added.
“I LACK MARKETING TO WIN THE BALLOON D’OR”
Rodri is the only Spanish candidate for the Ballon d’Or, a title he does not believe he will win. “Individual trophies are a prize with a lot of marketing, and I am aware of the player I am. I lack marketing. Xavi and Iniesta lacked marketing in their day. Individual prizes depend on third parties. I think a such Leo Messi,” he said.
Regarding his future, the ‘Citizen’ midfielder sees himself “for now” in Manchester. “I am moved a lot by sporting projects. I came here for that and at the moment I am very happy. It would be very difficult for a project like Arabia to attract me, I am moved by ambition,” he said, and revealed that he watches football every day and, above all, , their own parties. “It’s a rare day that I don’t watch the game. I get home and start watching it,” he said.
Finally, he explained how he experienced playing as a center back in the World Cup in Qatar. “I knew that the center position was very expensive. I have done everything to fight for the position, football gives you the opportunity to play in a World Cup; if you give me the choice to play as a winger or be on the bench, I choose winger. One has To be honest, and I believed I could perform as a center back, it was not a position I was unfamiliar with. Playing a World Cup there is a big word; in a short time I had to gather many concepts because I was not used to playing there,” he concluded.