Craig Burley and Shaka Hislop listen in to ESPN FC’s interview with Manchester City midfielder Rodri and give their take on his comments.

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46 Comments

  1. Those who sit and make the final decisions, or those who vote, what and what do they take into consideration?
    i wish to see a game where CR7 or Lio M, will play alone against a random selection of 11 players from even a 3rd division league of players from any unrecognised footballing nation at the World's stage, say Madagascar or Vietnam or China, and win them….. then we know the G>O>A>T indeed😃

  2. everyone is important. B'dor is a farse. no need for individual awards. you cannot have 'the best player in the world' in a group sport.

  3. So to all y’all a defender has a bigger roll then a striker mf how tf is the defender gotta run all the way up to do the most important thing in a game witch is to score a mf goal a striker still gotta come back and defend you fking tards

  4. Rodri is getting to big on himself. He cant play on his own like any other player in a team. He is also a problem because he often is to slow to pass towards the attacking midfielders or Haaland. Last season I thought he ruined some of Citys games together with Diaz. To slow in transition. He needs to step up his game in my opinion.

  5. Let me put it this way, if City lose a game who will the media blame: Rodri or Haaland? It was always Haaland or KDB

    Last season who was blamed when Madrid lost or underperformed: VINICIUS

  6. It has to be Rodri for the Balon D'Or!
    He simply is the most influental player in any team for the last several seasons.
    The win/lost stats with him in/out of the team, tells the story.
    Whilst Real Madrid won the league & CL, Vinicus flopped at the South American Cup, Rodri won the PL and the Euro's for Spain and flopped no where.

  7. In the second leg against Madrid Vinicius and Bellingham destroyed all of the defensive effort in under 10 seconds. Haaland could’ve done the same if he scored the chances he had. Nothing beats the ability to score.

  8. Collective awards are bigger; however, it's also good to be seen and recognized, especially when you're in a team that is not the best. There are different roles on the pitch. That's why I believe the Best XI should be it. Best players in each position. If not, 99 % of the times it will be a foward winning it.

  9. Craig stop capping holding midfielder is most important role in the team creates balance in both defense and attack. There’s no team that gonna win a major trophy without a proper holding midfielder!-

  10. In my opinion, the Ballondor award should be 4 each year, one for defenders one for midfielders and one for strikers, and maybe one for keepers… by giving just one award means that a whole lot of deserving players are automatically excluded just because of the position they play, in a way, this is discrimination. There should be a fair criteria to access the best player in each position/compartment lf the field thereby giving every player a fair chance of recognition.

  11. What a dumb statement. You can play without a holding midfielder and win consistently, but you can win consistently without having a striker scoring goals. So no, a holding midfielder is not a bigger role than striker.

  12. Why not Carvajal? He captained both RM and Spain, won la liga, UCL and Euros while being a crucial player at both parties and even scoring crucial goals and a goal in a final…

  13. This has to be a joke…. Rodri is a great player but he wouldn’t even have a sniff of ballon d’or if he was on another team.

    Man City won 2 titles before he arrived. Lost his first year and have won 4 since. They have started the year 3-0 without him playing a single minute. Haaland does have 7 goals in those 3 games too.

    Rodri also got injured in the Euro final. Left the game at 0-0 and Spain went on to win it with him on the sidelines.

    As good as Rodri is, he is not the real reason both Spain and Man City win. He definitely contributes a lot and is one of their best players but both could win without him

  14. He's correct. There are an excess of goalscorers in world football at club level. We've seen non-strikers also contribute goals over the course of a season (Bellingham, Gundogan, Grimaldo, for example) and in big games (Spain's midfielders for example). Holding midfield position however has under 5 elite players in the entire world.

  15. RODRI never ever said that DM was more important than Striker.
    He said it was a bigger role. That too me is true and it's because the DM covers so much ground and do many different tasks compared to the striker.

  16. We know you are marketing RODRI,but look at euro,did Spain really seem to play bad because he did not play that game? Spain played well wether with him or not,so let's stop hyping this guy.this year's balon dor is for vini

  17. If RODRI wins this balon dor,then eniester,ozil,xavi ,Kross deserve it also .
    Then let the french prepare a balon dor for lewandoski.and rodri winning this balon dor will really send the image to the whole world that Spain and the whole Europe is racist

  18. It’s a cute thing to think about the nice guy winning the Ballon dor but let’s just stay in reality because Vinicius Jr deserves that ballon dor. Football players that invoke emotion to the viewers are special and you can’t sit here and tell me that Rodrigo inspired everyone around the world. Nobody is saying “I’m Rodrigo!” When they playing football with their mates. It’s nice to appreciate him, cool, but Vinicius Jr is the clear winner. Voa mlk! Não querem à ver você dançar🤭

  19. 😂😂 People are really trying to hype this guy into the Balon D'or huh? Geez how low the game is that a holding midfielder is front runner for Balon D'or. Anyone but Vini 😂

  20. Midfielders work tirelessly than strikers. Don’t forget they seethe engine and cthey are in constant rotation (running/moving
    )

    But every role in a team sport is important and equal…

    The leg is not more important than the eyes… Different functions, one goal

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