Rodri: ‘France are one of the best teams here, in great form, but so are Spain. We can beat them’

The Spain captain on his team’s chances in the World Cup semi-final, analysing every game so far and how to get the best out of Lamine Yamal

“I’m not that bad,” Rodri Hernández says. It’s the morning after the World Cup’s 100th game and in a conference room at the Cotton Bowl where old posters line the walls and Spain are about to start their penultimate training session before the 101st, their captain is doing the calculations. Even with the six he’s played in and all the travel, from Atlanta to Guadalajara and Dallas to Los Angeles and back, 9,000 miles so far, he reckons he’s watched the “immense majority”. More than anyone else here, anyway. “Some as a fan, teams we can’t face; others I analyse. But it’s not like I’m there with pen and paper,” he says. Then he cracks up and concedes: “But, yeah, I probably am the worst.”

They wouldn’t have it another way; he couldn’t have it any other way. This is who Rodri is: Ballon d’Or winner and business graduate from Castellón University. The kid who was on camp in the Connecticut woods, aged 14, when Spain last won the World Cup and the captain who aspires to lift the trophy again, back in the USA 16 years on. The midfielder who sometimes seems like a de facto coach, analysing everything. The adult in the room, a leader aware of his responsibility. When Rodri talks, they listen. Sometimes they have to. And, oh, Rodri talks, a calm authority about him.

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