Manchester City midfielder Rodri has admitted unrelenting pressure being applied by Liverpool has acted as a benefit for Pep Guardiola's side this season.
Both teams have once again demanded sky-high standards from each other in search of the Premier League title, with no margin for error allowed at this stage of the season. Just one point separates the sides with five games remaining, in another battle for top spot that promises to go the distance.
Liverpool got the better of the Sky Blues in their FA Cup semi-final meeting earlier this month, though remain in competition with City for both the top-flight title and Champions League. Should both sides progress past the semi-final stages of Europe's elite competition, it would set up a mouth-watering head-to-head in the showpiece fixture in Paris.
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Maintaining such high performance levels at this stage of the season is no simple task, and Rodri has made clear that suffering defeat to the Reds was a wake-up call in the context of the constant demands being placed on players during a testing period.
"The schedule has been very demanding. We had a series of games against Liverpool and Atletico that we ended up blowing with the intensity of everything. We need rest because we have too many games, but it is what it is. Perhaps in the FA Cup against Liverpool, it was the game that I noticed that we were most physically affected. Now I am not concerned in this regard," he told Sport.
On how Jurgen Klopp's men continue to bring the best out oft he City squad, the Spaniard added: "You look at the leagues all over the world and they're almost doomed, except ours. It is what it is.
"We have a giant like Liverpool that will keep us pushing until the end. This is how you win a Premier League. They demand of us every week, but it is also true that nobody squeezes us like we do. The level is very high and we want it that way, to improve every year."
