By Michael Church
ARLINGTON, Texas, July 14 (Reuters) - Spain's Rodri put on a midfield masterclass against France on Tuesday, making a long-awaited return to the form that won him the 2024 Ballon d'Or as he anchored an imperious display by Luis de la Fuente's team to take them into the World Cup final.
Twenty-two months after rupturing his cruciate ligament in a clash with Thomas Partey playing for Manchester City against Arsenal in the Premier League, the 30-year-old found the perfect time to again hit
the heights of his pre-injury performances.
"Step by step, one step further," Rodri said after Spain won 2-0 to book a place in their first final since winning the title in 2010. "The team is elated. It's the second time we've reached a final, and we need to stay calm and get some rest."
The signs that Rodri has been returning to the levels that had been so central to City's dominance of English and European football during and after the club's treble-winning 2022-23 season had been increasingly visible throughout the tournament.
But it was on Tuesday that Rodri performed in a manner most reminiscent of the form that yielded his world record unbeaten streak from February 2023 to May 2024, when he went undefeated for Pep Guardiola's City side in 74 consecutive matches.
He served as the fulcrum of a Spain performance that saw De la Fuente's obdurate side frustrate and suffocate a French line-up that had been expected to dazzle with its attacking elan.
Instead it was Rodri who dominated, forming an unbreakable defensive triangle with Aymeric Laporte and Pau Cubarsi to deny Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise the time and space they sought in central areas to trouble Unai Simon.
Tellingly, the Spanish goalkeeper did not have a save to make as Rodri frequently snuffed out potential danger long before it emerged, nicking the ball off the toe of Dembele or repeatedly leading Mbappe down blind alleys.
French frustration was apparent early on, with coach Didier Deschamps forced to replace the ineffective Adrien Rabiot at halftime in an unsuccessful effort to wrest control of midfield.
Rodri's distribution, meanwhile, kept France on the back foot as he switched play to full backs Marc Cucurella and Pedro Porro, all while covering more than 12.5 km in a performance that took Spain back to the final.
"Given the characteristics of both teams, you knew one was more explosive and the other more possession-oriented," Rodri said. "The support from the full-backs – from the whole team – has been sensational.”
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Ken Ferris)
