**Manchester City's**midfielder Rodri gave his thoughts on the 2-0 Derby Day defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon, which ended City's thirteen game unbeaten streak.
He said: "I mean difficult day, of course, we tried. We tried, but sometimes the opponent is better. We have to accept that they had more energy, they had more legs, they were more the side to win today than us. Even though we didn’t lose our face, in the end, I think they caught us on the counter-attack with two goals.
"We saw already, you know, the very big the result. I think we put our hands down very early, but it is what it is; it’s difficult when they drop the defence, but we missed the energy."
The Ballon d'Or winner also assessed the young players that have needed to come into the side to replace the injured, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, and Matheus Nunes.
City now have thirteen players who may be unavailable for their UEFA Champions League clash at Bodo/Glimt on Tuesday as City's injury crisis intensifies.
"It’s about, you know, football is like this, we lose, you learn from the past, and you move on. The young lads are doing brilliant. Of course, they miss this experience sometimes, but we need to help them because they’re going to be important in the next years.
"This is the way you build teams. Sometimes you need to wait a little bit to create something bigger, and it’s our reality. We dropped many points in the last games, but still, we are second or third, so we are there. We’re going to fight until the end!"
City's number sixteen also offered an insight in how he feels since coming back from a couple of niggles since recovering from his ACL injury.
He said: "Yeah, ready to go. I’m very happy to be on the pitch every single day. Every day I feel better, so yeah, happy and excited to help the team in all senses."
The Blues will look to bounce back on Tuesday evening as they travel to Bodo/Glimt in the UEFA Champions League Group Phase, before hosting Wolves in Premier League action at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon.