Pep Guardiola was seen looking far from pleased with Manchester City No.16 Rodri during Saturday’s FA Cup final.
The Citizens endured a day to forget as Manchester United wrestled the FA Cup off their neighbours, with goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo ensuring a shock result.
A number of Pep Guardiola‘s most trusted lieutenants – such as Kevin De Bruyne – did not deliver, nor did Rodri, who did something just after half time which angered the Manchester City boss…
What Rodri did to annoy Pep Guardiola
In the 48th minute of Saturday’s FA Cup final, Rodri upset his fellow Spaniard.
As Manchester City found themselves 2-0 down and needing to rediscover their typically slick passing play, the Spain international instead attempted to lob Andre Onana from inside his own half.
Rodri’s gamble did not pay off, and Guardiola could be seen looking incredibly disappointed in the 27-year-old for being so needlessly direct.
Alan Shearer also spotted the 53-year-old’s reaction while speaking on commentary duty for BBC Sport, saying: “He does not look a happy man down there, Pep, after that decision from Rodri.”
We can understand why Guardiola was annoyed.
Those sort of efforts should only be reserved for desperate times, and it presumably gave Manchester United a lot of confidence to see Rodri take a hopeful punt from so far out, as early as the 48th minute.
Manchester City No.16 was among the better performers
Rodri is capable of much more than he showed on Saturday, although the Manchester City No.16 was still one of the better performers on a day where many top players struggled.
SofaScore shows that the Spaniard received a 7.6 rating – only Phil Foden scored higher on Manchester City’s side with a 7.7 score.
READ MORE: How Arsenal reacted immediately after Manchester United FA Cup win
Rodri completed 88% of his passes and had 107 touches of the ball, while also winning four of his six ground duels.
Of course, the Madrid-born maestro, his teammates, nor the Manchester City fans will care too much about statistics after a bitterly disappointing result, although nobody can accuse Rodri for a lack of effort against Manchester United.