The Barcelona midfielder chose the same reference point City’s lawyers are now reaching for, and did it from inside the opposition camp.
“I believe in the justice system and I believe in the innocence of the club,” Rodri told reporters at Wembley, ahead of Spain’s UEFA Nations League match against England. His answer came days after an independent Premier League commission ruled that City had breached financial regulations on 114 of the 115 charges brought against them.
Then he reached for the parallel City themselves have leaned on for two years.
“And we had the example in 2020 and the process was the same, and in the end, nothing happened.”
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Spain’s media officer stepped in shortly afterwards and closed the press conference as further City questions kept coming.
Is the 2020 parallel really the same?
Rodri’s reference is to the case UEFA brought against City for overstating sponsorship income between 2012 and 2016. UEFA banned the club from the Champions League for two years in early 2020. City appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, which overturned the ban that summer, ruling most of the alleged breaches were either time-barred or not established.
The Premier League case is broader. The 115 charges cover the seasons from 2009-10 to 2022-23 and include allegations of failing to co-operate with the league’s investigation. The 114 guilty findings sit with an independent commission set up under the league’s own rules, and any appeal will go to a Premier League appeal board, not to Lausanne. City have already indicated they intend to appeal.
‘What we did, they cannot take out of us’
Alongside the process talk, Rodri kept coming back to what he said City earned on the pitch during his seven seasons at the Etihad.
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“What we did, they cannot take out of us. It’s something that is not paid by money.”
“I can tell you that everything was deserved, and I’m glad that I could live one of the best eras of English football in here.”
Barcelona signed the Spain midfielder from City this summer for an initial €60m with a further €16.5m in add-ons, on a four-year deal. He turned down an approach from Real Madrid to sign for Barcelona, who wanted a senior presence in midfield after Frenkie de Jong picked up a long-term injury.
Rodri was voted the 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or winner in October 2024. He spent most of the following season on the sidelines with a serious knee injury before his summer move to Spain.
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The commission’s ruling has not yet been officially published by the Premier League, and no sanction has been announced. Legal analysts quoted by Al Jazeera put the range from a transfer ban at the lighter end to expulsion from the league at the most severe.
