Writing in the Players' Tribune, Rodri said: "You know, when I reference Pep, I always have to talk with my hands. I have to find a table, or a board or something and I have to start moving around coffee cups like a chess board, like he does.
“'He will go here, then he will go there, and then bang — you move here. Into the space. Bang'.”
"For me, he added that final mental piece of the puzzle. 'Seeing' the game in a different way. 'Feeling' it — when to move into space, when to hold back. When to press, when to ease off.
"His confidence was so important to me, because you have to remember, when I came here in 2019, I was walking into a changing room with Fernandinho, Agüero, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne. Legends.
"When I was 12 years old, I used to go and watch Agüero on the training ground when he was at Atlético. He was one of my heroes. Now I’m sitting right next to him in the changing room? It was amazing."