Rodri reveals painful reaction to Man City Champions League exit and tells teammates how to react

Rodri insists that Manchester City will emerge stronger from their Champions League exit to Real Madrid last season, but admits he found the loss particularly difficult in the following days.

City were headed to a second successive Champions League final, but conceded twice in injury time at the end of the second leg to force extra time, where Real went on to reach the final and then beat Liverpool to lift the cup.

The Blues went on to win the Premier League, but not without drama against Aston Villa, and their aims for the new season will remain fixed on winning the league and getting their hands on that first Champions League trophy.

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“I just think about how many times the team arrives in those situations to win," Rodri told reporters in Houston ahead of the first pre-season friendly.

"The teams who have won it the most - Real Madrid, Bayern Munich – are always in semi-finals and finals. They don’t win it every time but they are there. Now we are starting to build a culture to be there every year. One day it is going to happen. But first you need the experience of semi-finals and finals.

“Then it is partly luck. That is going to be with us and we will achieve. But at the beginning you need to be consistent in these situations.

“They asked me the other day ‘what makes the champions different?’ Sometimes it’s the consistency, the strong mentality, these kinds of things. You build it, there are some players who are born with it. But this is a sport of 24 players and you have to carry on with 24 players at the same time. Sometimes the mood is down, sometimes it’s up and you have to try."

While the Premier League title made for a