Spain face a rare World Cup event

Rodri has already won an exceptional place in the history of Spanish football. Winning the 2024 Ballon d’Or placed him among his country’s all-time elite, an achievement surpassed only by legends Alfredo Di Stefano and Luis Suarez. Apart from his individual glory, his career is full of two international titles with El Matador, the 2023 UEFA Nations League and Euro 2024, with the trophy lifted in Berlin.

And now the “Manchester City” star is eagerly waiting… The most expensive title is the world championship. This is his third World Cup attempt in his career after two unusual attempts. The first was in Russia, when Julián Lopetegui summoned him and Vallejo as support players for training, only to return home early after Portugal’s first game. As for the second attempt, it was in Qatar where he played every minute (390 minutes) but in a position he didn’t entirely prefer, which was ‘centre back’.

The Spanish star will take part in the next World Cup in September 2024 after successfully overcoming a serious knee injury. This injury and its aftermath deprived him of 12 international caps with the national team, taking his current tally to 61 caps, while he could easily have passed the 70-game ban had it not been for his absence.

Despite everything, Rodri will be the captain of the Spanish national team at the World Cup, taking the baton from the scorer Alvaro Morata. This leadership acquires a historical dimension. For the first time in the history of Spain’s participation in the World Cup, an active player outside the borders of the Spanish “La Liga” assumes the highest authority in the dressing room of “La Roja”.

If Dani Carvajal is also missing from the list, the leading team of the Spanish national team will form the trio: Rodri, goalkeeper Unai Simon (53 international matches), Ferran Torres (52 matches).

Spain’s journey began with the 1934 World Cup in Italy, and at that time the leader was the first public and media star in the history of Spanish football, the legendary goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora of Real Madrid.

Leadership was formed Goalkeeping and the World Cup are a triangle that has been repeated many times in the history of the national team.; Of the 16 World Cups in which Spain has historically participated, goalkeepers have held the position of captain in 7 versions. In addition to Zamora, it has been worn by Guillermo Izaguirre of Valencia (1950), Luis Arconada of Real Sociedad (1982), Andoni Zubizarreta of Barcelona (1994 and 1998), and Iker Casillas of Real Madrid (2010 and 2014).

At the club level, Real Madrid football players have imposed their control over the dressing room 10 times in the World Cup. What Zamora started in 1934 was continued by Gento (1966), Perrin (1978), Camacho (1986), Butragueño (1994), Fernando Hierro (2002), Raul Gonzalez (2006), Casillas (2010 and 2014) and Sergio Ramos (2018).

Rodri now joins his English side Manchester City in the honors list of clubs whose players have led the Matadors at the World Cup, which includes Barcelona (Segara, Zubizarreta with both options and Busquets), Valencia (Izaguirre) and Real Sociedad (Arconada).