According to statistics from Transfermarkt, since joining Man City in 2019, up to before this season, Rodri has only missed 5 matches. The Spanish midfielder is considered an injury-infected case, but right now, he could face the prospect of a break until the summer of 2025.
In just the past few months, the 28-year-old star has been knocked down twice in a row due to pain. The endurance has reached its limit and if not an ACL injury this time, it is unknown when the EURO 2024 champion will rest.
In a livestream with Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois shared that what Rodri said was true, implying that the players now have to play continuously.
"People say we earn a lot of money so we don't have the right to complain. This is true but we need to find a balance. Even the best players cannot play continuously at high intensity" - Courtois shared.
Agreeing with Courtois, current Chelsea captain - Enzo Maresca said that in terms of the number of matches, everything is currently too much. Maresca said he would do everything he could to protect the players and the current volume of matches was completely wrong.
That is a problem for the players and the coaches. On UEFA and FIFA's side, cutting down on matches seems to have never crossed the minds of the managers of the two largest football organizations on the planet.
"It's too easy to criticize UEFA and FIFA. Sometimes people think it's as simple as that, if you play less games, you get less money. I think the people who should complain are the workers who are only paid about 1,000 Euros/month" - UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin shared.
"One of the most important things for the present and future of football is to protect the health and happiness of the players. The proposal to reduce the intensity of competition may be recalculated based on the break and the mandatory preparation time for each match," said FIFA.
Although FIFA is not as extreme as UEFA, expanding the format of the FIFA Club World Cup, which will start from the summer of 2025, is a statement that they will not do anything differently from UEFA in this matter. For English sides, having to play in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup could be a disaster. If they reach the finals of all tournaments this season, Man City will have to play 75 matches, while Chelsea will have to play 74.
With some of Man City's stars being the core of the national team such as Bernardo Silva ( portugal), plus 10 international matches taking place during the season, the maximum number of matches to play could be 85, an average of 4 days/match, lasting from August 2024 to July 2025.
Last week, Rodri shared that the reasonable number for a player in a season would range from 40 - 50 matches. Having to add any more games in this period is overwhelming.
The fact that players are not allowed to complain about making too much money is not necessarily a reasonable view. Teams do not want to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds a week to players who are often in bed. Players at a lower level but play more, contribute more in practice but receive less salary. This creates an imbalance.
The players who receive high salaries are also very afraid of serious injuries because after recovering, they may never return to their old form. Earning a lot of money in a short time but then losing form miserably is not a good scenario.
Despite the players' complaints, the trend of increasing the number of matches will not stop. Statistics show that each year, more than 1,000 matches in the EFL system are broadcast live on television channels in the UK. Youth tournaments also increase the number of matches, causing many young bamboo shoots to ripen, forcing them to leave youth tournaments early to play in professional tournaments.
Every fever will eventually subside and the current continuous increase in the number of matches will have to end one day. However, that day only came when the number of spectators decreased because they were full of football. Otherwise, as long as fans continue to watch in large numbers, tournaments will not miss this opportunity to make a profit. There will be more cases like Rodri.
