Rodri's unforgivable sin

The same week that José Mourinho, coinciding with the first defeat of his Real Madrid, has opened the jar of excuses, the very powerful merengue media loudspeaker has turned up the volume to find fault with Rodrigo Hernández. After making his debut as a starter in the thrashing at Mestalla, it occurred to the blue and garnet star signing to comment to his teammates on the ease granted by Valencia.

A Movistar camera followed him on the bench and caught him commenting on what everyone was seeing: that Carlos Corberán's side was a rag doll in the hands of a simply superior Barça. "They are very weak. They are very bad. They are absolutely terrible. They haven't crossed the midfield in the second half," he said to Cubarsí. He wasn't mocking them. He was expressing concern and astonishment at the low level of an opponent.

Far from getting annoyed with Rodri, in Valencia they have applauded his sincerity for defining the decomposing project—and we are only in September—of Peter Lim. A whole Ballon d'Or winner singing truths about the miseries of a historic La Liga club. The criticisms, look where, have arrived from the Spanish capital, where the Madrid midfielder's impressions have been defined as a lack of respect. They don't say the same when Vinícius, a great example of sportsmanship, sends the majority of Primera fans to the Second Division. Or when Valverde resolves conflicts with punches. Or when Rüdiger makes a throat-slitting gesture to celebrate a victory on hostile ground.

It is much worse, without a doubt, that a footballer who comes from the Premier League is surprised by the low level of an opponent that ended up conceding five goals at their stadium and shares it with a teammate. Accustomed to English football, where reading lips isn't really a thing, Rodri forgot to cover his mouth before issuing his judgment on Valencia's dismal performance. He has already learned his lesson. But let him prepare himself, because the same ones who criticized him for this will continue looking for reasons to make him pay for what really matters: that he chose to play for Barça after giving Madrid an abundant ration of rejections.