Rodri explains how 'tired' Man City players gave themselves a title race break

Rodri praised the ambition of Manchester City players to keep going against Newcastle despite the tiredness sweeping across the squad.

Pep Guardiola and his players had just three days to recover from another devastating Champions League exit, with Real Madrid scoring in the 90th and 91st minutes to force extra time - having previously failed to land a shot on target - before bagging a winner to eliminate the Blues. All eyes were on the Etihad on Sunday to see how City would recover, but before they kicked a ball they were boosted by news that Liverpool had dropped points against Tottenham.

City have known since December that the title race has been in their hands, but Saturday's draw at Anfield allowed themselves to put some breathing space between them and their biggest rivals. Not only did they pick up the win that moves them three points ahead of Liverpool, but two injury-time goals of their own raise the possibility that they could lose one of their three remaining fixtures and still win the league.

Also read:Man City to avoid transfer saga as they close on Erling Haaland deal

At the end of one of their most difficult weeks of the season, Rodri certainly thinks City showed the character and intelligence that they were accused of lacking in the Bernabeu.

"We understood the game perfectly and we had the ambition to keep going," he said. "Even though we are tired because this season has been so long, we wanted more goals because we knew it was going to be important.

"It feels a little bit better, but the job is not done, with pressure on ourselves that we have to keep fighting to win. We are going to fight until the end.

"We know it is not over. It is three more games until the maths says it is done but nothing is