Manchester City hero Rodri chases rare quadruple in Nations League

A packed schedule for the hero of Istanbul. Rodri, still coming to terms with the size of his legacy – as scorer of the most important goal in Manchester City’s history – now turns his mind to transforming his treble into a unique, quick-fire quadruple.

His national team, the Spain he captained in their last competitive match, are in Netherlands to contest the last stage of the Uefa Nations League on Thursday. Beat Italy in Enschede and they contest Sunday’s final. For Rodri and his City colleague Aymeric Laporte, that could mean a fourth trophy in the space of 28 days.

On the penultimate Sunday of May, Rodri and Laporte were under a shower of confetti at the Etihad stadium, brandishing the Premier League. Two weekends later, in London, they were circling the Wembley pitch with the FA Cup.

Seven evenings on, Rodri, having struck the only goal in a taut Champions League final against Inter Milan, was telling reporters of the need to keep the momentum, of a dynasty City must now build. He may first need to build an extension to his personal cabinet of silverware.

Poor Matteo Darmian, the defender whose face so vividly registered Inter’s alarm in the 68th minute in Istanbul as Rodri advanced to meet Bernardo Silva’s cutback and coolly curled his powerful drive around Darmian. Pity Nicolo Barella, the Inter midfielder who was sprinting, in vain, to cover the space Rodri exploited. Both are in Enschede with Italy and would be forgiven for feeling they have spent quite enough of their June trying to track Rodri’s midfield runs.

Darmian’s two partners in the Inter back three, Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Bastoni, are also with Italy, as is the Inter wing-back Federico Dimarco. They were all congratulated for a valiant season