RODRI – look away now. If you aren’t already knackered you will be after reading this.
Manchester City’s overworked midfielder broke with tradition ten days ago by pleading for a rest, because the hectic football calendar is catching up on him.
He will probably start against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday, though, in an example of a thoroughly modern FA Cup semi-final: late kick-off and no replay to drain the legs.
Back in 1986, the two teams met at the same ground in the now-defunct Full Members’ Cup on March 23 with both teams having played the day before in the old Division One.
City drew 2-2 at Manchester United while Chelsea won 1-0 at Southampton then whizzed back up to London to prepare for the game.
Winger Pat Nevin played two full 90-minute matches in 24 hours. A league game and cup final on consecutive days. The stuff of Rodri’s nightmares.
Chelsea won 5-4 as 67,000 fans turned up.
For slender Nevin, it was a doddle.
He said: “Wembley is quite taxing, it’s a big pitch and in those days anyway, quite sapping because it was lush grass. It was asking a lot but I don’t actually remember feeling tired.
“But my background was as a distance runner so I could go forever.
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“The big, heavier guys struggled more than anyone else. I think Kerry Dixon was injured that day.
“The Chelsea fans turned up as if it was the Champions League final. It was weird. Chelsea hadn’t been at Wembley for a long time, so they were enjoying a day out. I think we were 5-1 up with five minutes to go.
“The referee was just having a laugh. He gave them a penalty right at the end to make it 5-4. I was furious. I shouted at him, ‘What are you doing?’
“He said, ‘I’m just having a bit of fun and will blow up after this, don’t worry.’ I thought, ‘I like your style, mate.'”
Chelsea played 52 matches in season 1985-86 and finished sixth.
Nevin, 60, said: “If you check, we played a lot of games that year. But it was injuries that got us more than tiredness.
“In 850 games as a professional I never once said I was tired, and I wasn’t the only one.
“We had much, much smaller squads. You played with injury. The concept of being in the red zone so they take you off didn’t exist. You ran through it.
“Players have always pushed themselves to the edge, okay some of us may have two metal hips now because of it, but you take that.
“I loved it. I thought ‘Yes, they’ll be knackered.’ Any weakness, you turn it into a positive.
“So if I have two games in two days, so do they. It’s, ‘Let’s see if you are as fit as me’. It’s just the way elite sport is.”
Rodri has played 48 matches this season and is the beating heart of a City team chasing a league and cup double after exiting European competition in midweek.
Nevin said: “I am not deeply sympathetic. Nobody is 100 per cent fit.
“Rodri has the right to say it. But there are some I think, ‘Come on give us a break.’
“In a different era, if you’d said you were too tired and didn’t play next week, somebody else would take your place and you might not get back in.
“It doesn’t happen so much now. And if you are on £60,000, £70,000 a week does it matter if you don’t get in?
“Back then it was your livelihood. So even if you did want a rest you couldn’t afford it. Not only did you lose your place in the team, but your wages.”
The Full Members’ Cup was a substitute for European competition with English clubs banned following the 1985 Heysel Stadium riot.
Nevin said: “It was completely for the fans, They deserve it. They have waited since Peter Osgood and Charlie Cook.
“I was fine after it. It’s not that I am Superman. I am a bit of an oddity.”
