The boos came every time Rodri touched the ball. And he had a lot of touches. Showing as much discipline as the Scotland players, the Tartan Army simply refused to relent throughout the first half.
When the noise echoed out inside Estadio La Cartuja, it temporarily swamped the sound of a passionate home crowd. Rodri’s words had not been forgotten.
Over the last seven months, his sour comments after Spain’s Hampden loss in March became an unlikely emblem of Scotland’s outstanding progress through Group A. They were referenced time and again. The Manchester City midfielder was cast as the pantomime villain of a show in which living happily ever after had begun to look inevitable for Steve Clarke’s men.