It sums up Rodri's season that he was the man to win the Champions League for Manchester City.
Not goal machine Erling Haaland. Not talisman Kevin De Bruyne. Not captain Ilkay Gundogan, or homegrown fan favourite Phil Foden. Rodri.
The midfield general who has barely put a foot wrong. The only true 'undroppable' in a squad full of world-class players. When City were struggling (Rodri included), he stepped up and won the Champions League.
It was a goal as big, if not bigger, for City as Sergio Aguero's title-winner in 2012. That goal set City on their way to total dominance over English football for the next 11 years. This goal could do the same in European and World football for a club with no plans of stopping now.
Without Rodri, City wouldn't have won the Premier League last year. His 95th-minute winner at Arsenal felt uncharacteristic, and his inch-perfect side-foot on the last day vs Aston Villa is often forgotten amid Ilkay Gundogan's brilliant brace. Even his stunner against Bayern Munich in this season's Champions League was a pivotal goal. He doesn't score goals that don't matter.
His finish vs Inter Milan sums up his quality, too. In the same shot, he managed to deftly bend a pass around two defenders and into the back of the net, while giving it enough force that it could be described as a thumping finish. It was control and skill worthy of the biggest stage, yet somehow also with the emphatic finish of seven years of frustration unleashed in a single moment.
Ironically, Rodri had one of his worst performances in some time against Inter. John Stones was more effective in keeping the tempo in Istanbul, but City won't mind if Rodri's role changed for one night only to become the main man. After singing 'Gundo's on fire' in the last fortnight, now the squad were serenading Rodri with the same chant.
With an era-defining goal, Rodri now joins Aguero and Paul Dickov as the scorer of a famous City strike. Fans will watch that goal on repeat for years, and they will always remember where they were when it went in.
It was fitting that Rodri upstaged Haaland, De Bruyne and others to earn his unrivalled moment of glory. The humble player who used to live in university accommodation and has been studying a business degree alongside bossing the City midfield and scoring the goal they've dreamed of for years.
And with Haaland ending the season with one goal in eight, he only has 52 goals in 53 appearances from his debut season. Undoubtedly, City wouldn't have won the treble without him - aside from perhaps the FA Cup. He has won the majority of individual honours this season and will likely pick up more.
His status as Player of the Year, though, had threatened to overlook key and consistent performers like Manu Akanji, Nathan Ake, Jack Grealish and Rodri. Being City's second-best player of the year would be no shame this season.
Maybe, though, by adding the Champions League-winning goal to a ridiculously-consistent season, Rodri has a genuine claim to rival Haaland as City's player of the season.
Even if he doesn't, he can rest easy knowing he has the Champions League, and will be forever remembered as one of the most important players in City's history.
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