'I do need a rest' - Man City undroppable's admission will alert Arsenal and Liverpool

Rodri admitted he needs to rest after slogging through his fourth game in 10 days to help Manchester City keep their Treble hopes alive.

The Spanish midfielder is the best in the world in his position but has looked leggy in the past two games and Pep Guardiola picked up after their 3-3 draw with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu that he was uncharacteristically poor with the ball. Rodri thinks that the lack of rest for the whole team compared to their opponents, who had nine days without a match to prepare for the Champions League clash, contributed to the superiority of the home team in the first half.

However, he praised the mentality of Phil Foden and the rest of the team to fight back and earn a draw that sees them favourites to progress. With the second leg at the Etihad in eight days, Guardiola will have to decide whether Rodri - with more minutes than anyone but Foden in the squad - is needed to play against Luton at the weekend or can be given time off to get back to his sharpest.

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"I do need a rest," Rodri said after the game. "I do. Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. [Rest] is something we are planning, yeah.

"Every one of us can do better, even myself. But we need to rest to be honest. Phil has been sensational in terms of him scoring a goal when he needed to score. This is the talent he has.

"We showed our mentality to come back. The media has spoken about rest and it’s important. They were a bit fresher in the first half than us, it’s normal.

"But I think the mentality of the team to go against them and