Former Manchester City midfielder Rodri said he “believes in the innocence of the club” after reports that City were set to be found guilty on most of the charges brought by the Premier League over alleged breaches of financial rules.
A source confirmed to ESPN that City were expected to be found guilty on the vast majority of the 115 charges of financial breaches in their legal case with the Premier League.
Rodri — who will captain world champions Spain at Wembley on Saturday as they face England in the UEFA Nations League — spent seven years at City before joining Barcelona this summer.
City did not deny the reports, while the league refused to comment, stating that the process was confidential.
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“We experienced an identical process in 2020, if I remember rightly,” Rodri said in a news conference at Wembley on Friday, referring to UEFA’s investigation into City, which saw them initially banned from European competitions before the verdict was overturned on appeal.
“From the club, they always told us to be calm, that we’d be acquitted, that we hadn’t done anything, and the club was found not guilty … Let’s hope justice can be done.
“But I believe in the innocence of the club. I know the club well. We were told at the time to be calm, and that everything had been done properly.”
The Premier League charges relate to a period before Rodri joined City in 2019.
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The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner won four Premier League titles with City between 2020 and 2024, as well as the 2023 Champions League.
“For us the players, it’s a different thing than for you guys [the media],” Rodri said, when asked again about the charges. “I understand all kinds of opinions. It’s something that’s big now, but we always try to think positive.
“When you live daily at that club, with all the people that worked hard all these years to have the success we had, with Pep [Guardiola], the owners, everyone who worked on that … They can’t take that from us.
“It’s something that isn’t paid for with money, it’s effort, partnership, standing shoulder to shoulder. We had a lot of success, here at Wembley, and I can tell you that everything was deserved.”
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Rodri was asked how he would feel if the guilty charges were to be confirmed, having been assured by City bosses of the club’s innocence.
“They [the club] always told us the confidence they had in their innocence, and when you look in someone’s eyes and they tell you that …” Rodri said. “We were always calm, we never saw the team [being] nervous with these kinds of things.
“Everyone has to follow the rules, I support that, but it’s part of football today. They always expressed confidence that they never did anything wrong, and we believed in that. I’ve been there, I know how they work, so that’s what I can tell you.”
