It’s good to talk. Ask the man Pep Guardiola says is “the best midfielder in the world, by far” and whom Spain’s coach, Luis de la Fuente, calls “the perfect computer”, the footballer one opponent described as a Rolls-Royce, “a joy to even share a pitch with”, despite being defeated, and whose international captain reckons would have won the Ballon d’Or if he had just done the only thing he can’t do and won’t do: sell himself. The man whose role, he says, is to “make my team work”, bringing “light”.
Which is why his teams work like no others, even if he says: “I’m very lucky to be at the club I am at and to be Spanish. I’m surrounded by great players, winning dynamics.”
In the build up to Spain’s quarter-final with Germany last Friday, Ilkay Gündogan was asked about Rodrigo Hernández. “Extraordinary, the best holding midfielder in the world,” he replied, but it was what he said next that was most striking, that might have best defined his opponent and how he sees the game, how he plays it. Looking back on Rodri’s first season in England, Gündogan recalled how he would stay behind 30, 35 minutes a day, every day, often more at Manchester City training. Not to practise free-kicks or bulk out in the gym, but to talk: “He was always discussing, learning, and he perfected his game.”
When Rodri talks everyone listens, one Spain player says that in Donaueschingen, where the selección have been based for the past month. It is easy to see why. Rodri talks a little like he plays: calm, in control, with a clarity that makes it easier for you, too. The most important thing in football, he says, is absorbing concepts. Even at 12 years old, there was something about him, an ability to read the game, understand it, a desire to learn. And it’s still there.