The Spanish midfielder’s second-half piledriver proved the difference in the showpiece in Istanbul as Pep Guardiola’s side recorded an iconic 1-0 win over Inter.
It means City are now European Champions for the first time in our illustrious 129-year history – while also impressively claiming the Treble – only the second English team to do so.
Rodrigo has now carved his name into the Club’s folklore thanks to his wonderful, booming strike in Turkey.
And the 26-year-old believes he and his teammates in sky blue deserve to lift the Champions League trophy at the end of the term.
“I’m emotional, I mean this is a dream come true,” he declared.
“All these guys deserve. All these guys around here waiting I don’t know how many years. 20, 30, 40, I’ve been here just four, but they deserve and we deserve.
“The last years we were so close. At the end I say when you go to this moments, finals, semi-finals at the end God gives you these present.
“It’s unbelievable, it’s a dream for all of us. I just want to thank everyone.”
City and Inter went toe-to-toe in what was a closely fought final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.
After falling behind, Simone Inzaghi’s side threatened our goal on a number of occasions when Federico Dimarco hit the bar and Ederson produced a phenomenal save in the closing stages to maintain a clean sheet.
And Rodrigo was full of praise for the Serie A side after the full-time whistle.
He added: “It wasn’t easy, what a team we faced. Unbelievable the way they defended and counter attacked.
“They deserve also credit because they are a great team, but I don’t want to forget my lads. We gave everything.
“If they scored and it went to extra-time I couldn’t play, my calves were in my head. It was an unbelievable effort from everyone.
“I wasn’t good in the first half. Then this talk about our mentality, I say to myself ‘you need to overcome this situation’ and in the end I scored a goal. Unbelievable.”
Parade
We will be celebrating our treble with an open-top bus parade through Manchester city centre on Monday - we can’t wait to see you all there! Further details will follow tomorrow.
