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Manchester City and Arsenal have had a fierce rivalry over the last few years and Rodri has been at the heart of it
Manchester City's rivalry with Arsenal predates Rodri and goes beyond the Spanish midfielder, yet he has undeniably been at the heart of their recent spats.
Games between the clubs have been particularly heated in the last few years as the pair have tussled with each other for the Premier League title, and Rodri made himself Arsenal's number one enemy in that time. The first flashpoint came shortly before the Gunners became title challengers, in a 2022 game at the Emirates that had Arsenal seething long before the end of the game.
Mikel Arteta's side had roughed up the likely champions-elect for the first time in forever, taking the game to them and taking the lead through Bukayo Saka's first-half penalty. City looked well short of their best, but got back into the game when Granit Xhaka gave away a penalty on Bernardo Silva.
It was a soft (but correct) call, albeit one that needed to be given via VAR as referee Stuart Attwell was sent to the screen to change his original decision. A lengthy check in the first half for another Arsenal penalty had not been given, adding to the feeling of injustice in the crowd.
Two minutes later they were raging again as Gabriel was given a second yellow card and sent off for another soft foul. His first had been minutes earlier for trying to interfere with the penalty spot before Riyad Mahrez scored the equaliser.
Similar to Leandro Trossard at the Etihad two years on, both yellow cards were soft but correct. Obviously, they weren't seen that way by Arsenal fans.
A point felt like injustice for the Gunners, but deep in injury time the ball broke to Rodri in the box and the Spaniard wheeled away in delight and celebrated smack bang in front of the home fans.
"It’s good for football, that rivalry," the midfielder would later say. "Of course, there are times, because football is very euphoric when you don’t think much but I always try to respect the opponents. I never do these things to disrespect.
"I think I’m a very polite guy. I don’t show much of these kinds of things but sometimes things happen."
Safe to say Rodri was already unpopular at the Emirates then when he rubbed their noses in defeat after City had pipped them to the Premier League title for the second year in a row in 2024. The midfielder was asked for his thoughts on how the Blues had won their fourth title in a row on the pitch after their final-day win over West Ham and brought up a 0-0 against Arsenal from April.
A point was more than Arsenal had managed the previous year in what had been a real six-pointer in the title race, and they left Manchester ahead of their rivals in the table, albeit behind Liverpool. However, they failed to take advantage of a City defence that started without John Stones and Kyle Walker and then lost Nathan Ake in the first half.
At the end of the season, Rodri referred back to the game as being a crucial point in the run-in. "To be honest, I think it's in here [points to his head]. It's the mentality," he said.
"[There are] great players all over the league, all over the clubs. Arsenal also they deserve [to win], they did an unbelievable season, but I think the difference was in here [points to his head again].
"When they came here, they faced us at the Etihad, I saw them and said: 'Ah, these guys, they don't want to beat us, they just want a draw.' And that mentality, I don't think we would do it the same way.
"And we caught them. At the end, if you give us one point, we will win the last seven, eight games even though it's so tough. So I think [the title win] comes down to mentality."
That led to even more bad blood heading into the first meeting between the teams last season, when Rodri started his first league game of the season and was forced off early in the first half with the injury that would ruin almost his entire season. With the midfielder missing, City failed to make the most of their one-man advantage in that game and were then destroyed 5-1 at the Emirates by a ruthless and gleeful Arsenal.
After making his return to the team this season following a groin injury at the Club World Cup, Arsenal will be hoping that Rodri does not have the final say again when the teams meet on Sunday.
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