Rodri Reveals Why He Chose Barcelona Over Real Madrid
Real Madrid thought they had him. For much of the summer, Rodri looked destined for the Bernabeu, the European champions pushing hard to land one of the game’s most complete midfielders. Instead, he walked out at Camp Nou in Barcelona colours – a twist that cut deep in Madrid and electrified Catalonia.
Now, in an interview with MD, the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner has finally laid out why he turned down one giant to join their fiercest rival. And he did not hide behind sentiment or politics. For him, it was about football.
“The first thing I have to say is that I would have liked it to have been two or three weeks of quiet vacation and they were not at all,” Rodri admitted.
His summer, he explained, became a blur of calls, meetings and soul‑searching. “Many things had to be analysed, and such an important decision had to be made with two of the best clubs in the world.”
Real Madrid pushed hard. They were, for long stretches of the window, considered clear favourites. The club’s hierarchy, led on the sporting side by Jose Mourinho, did everything they could to lure him to the Spanish capital. They did not lose him through a lack of effort.
In the end, Rodri stripped the choice back to the pitch.
“I made a decision on the sporting level,” he said, underlining that the decisive factor was where he felt he could “win and grow more as a player.” That was the axis of everything: development, trophies, evolution. Not noise.
“It was not an easy decision at all, saying no to Madrid is not easy,” he stressed. He went out of his way to praise the way the club handled the process. “Above all that, they behaved exemplarily with me.” Respect remained intact, even as he walked away.
So why Barcelona? That is where two names come in: Deco and Hansi Flick.
“In the end, Deco and Hansi convinced me,” Rodri said.
Their sporting project, their vision of how he would fit, and the role they laid out for him tipped the scales. Barcelona offered him a central place in a rebuild, a team shaped around his strengths. That, for a player at his peak, mattered.
Mourinho’s role – and a respectful ‘no’
Rodri also opened up on his exchanges with Jose Mourinho, the Real Madrid head coach who had personally pushed for his signing.
“I don't think it's his thing to reveal a private conversation,” Rodri noted, choosing his words carefully. But he made it clear the Portuguese manager left a strong impression. Mourinho “obviously expressed his desire for me to join, and he told me what I could bring to the team. The treatment was very good.”
When Rodri finally chose Barcelona, he did not disappear or delegate the bad news. He picked up the phone.
“When I made the decision, I also called him to thank him for his interest and treatment,” he revealed. No drama, no bridge burned – just a difficult conversation handled directly.
His respect for Mourinho remains intact. “I think he's a great coach, he's already shown it wherever he's gone in his great stages,” Rodri said, before adding a warning for the rest of La Liga: “Real Madrid are going to be a tough opponent for this league.”
The rivalry is real. The hostility in the stands will be too. But between player and coach, the tone is professional and admiring.
Ballon d'Or boycott “not a factor”
One subplot to the saga had hovered in the background: Real Madrid’s decision to boycott Rodri’s 2024 Ballon d'Or ceremony, a move that drew headlines and plenty of commentary.
Rodri was clear. That episode did not shape his choice.
He “made it very clear” that the club’s stance over his Ballon d'Or triumph played no part in his thinking. No revenge angle. No emotional payback. Just a career call made, as he repeatedly stressed, on “the sporting level.”
So the story settles on this: two of the world’s biggest clubs, one of the world’s best midfielders, and a decision that may define the next era of El Clásico. Real Madrid chased him and lost. Barcelona bet on Deco, Hansi Flick and a central role for Rodri – and won.
The next time he walks into the Bernabeu in blaugrana, the noise will be deafening. The question is simple: did Madrid just let the player who will dominate their league for the next decade slip into the rival’s engine room?
