Rodri injury: Manchester City confirm knee ligament damage, Pep Guardiola says star set for 'long, long' absence
Updated 25/09/2024 at 21:11 GMT+1
Pep Guardiola has revealed Rodri will be out for a "long, long time" after limping out of Manchester City's 2-2 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League. The club have since confirmed the midfielder has suffered a ligament injury. Neither Man City nor Guardiola have provided a timeframe for the 28-year-old's return, but the player has travelled to Spain to see a specialist.
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Video credit: SNTV
Pep Guardiola has confirmed Rodri needs surgery to fix a knee injury picked up in Manchester City's 2-2 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League at the weekend.
The midfielder limped off at half-time following a collision with Thomas Partey and on Wednesday the club confirmed that he has "suffered a ligament injury to his right knee."
"The midfielder travelled to Spain to seek specialist consultation this week, following initial tests in Manchester," a Man City statement added.
"Assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the injury and expected prognosis."
The club are yet to put a timeframe on Rodri's injury but speaking after his side's 2-1 win over Watford in the third round of the Carabao Cup, Guardiola has admitted it will be several months before he returns to fitness.
"Still, we don’t have the definitive," he said. "He’ll be out for a long time, a while, but there is some opinions that maybe it will be less than we expect.
“Unfortunately he was injured. Right now, still, I cannot tell you [how long] because we’re waiting for the last phone calls from him and the doctors to know exactly what, definitely, he has and the type of surgery that he has to get.”
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His loss is a big one for Manchester City though. They have not lost any of the last 48 Premier League games in which he has featured.
The 28-year-old arrived at the Etihad Stadium in 2019, and has since helped the club lift the title on four successive occasions.
Those medals sit alongside a UEFA Champions League triumph, two League Cups, an FA Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup crown.
But Guardiola is determined to battle on without his star man.
"We don’t want this, but we will still have a good season," he continued. "I trust a lot in my players, I have a duty to find a solution.
“Rodri is irreplaceable and the team won’t play with the best midfielder in the world for a long, long time. Of course, it’s a big, big blow for us.
“But it’s football, it’s happened, and my duty is to find a solution, to be competitive like we have been for many years.”
Guardiola: We are not going to waste energy
Despite their opening League Cup win over Watford, Guardiola has vowed not to "waste energy" on the League Cup this season, as City look to win a record-extending fifth Premier League title while hoping to restore their status at European Champions.
The new UEFA Champions League format means at least two extra games per season for competing clubs, making for a packed schedule.
Although the Man City boss admitted he would "never throw a competition", he suggested that he will have to manage his players' minutes carefully.
“The next round, I announce you, I play the second team,” Guardiola revealed. “We are not going to waste energy, for sure.
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Pep Guardiola
Image credit: Getty Images
“The schedule is the schedule, we cannot handle it anyway.
"Today for [James] McAtee, Matheus [Nunes], Jack [Grealish], Phil [Foden], who didn't play, the young lad, 16 years old, it's perfect. That's why it's a good competition, otherwise, we wouldn’t win four in a row.
“We play to go through. We never throw a competition. Never. But we played 50 hours ago. I’m not going to [take] a risk with the Premier League and the Champions League in this competition.”
City, who sit one point clear of Liverpool and Aston Villa at the top of the Premier League table, return to action at the weekend, when they take on Newcastle United, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
They then travel to Slovakia to take on Slovan Bratislava in their second UEFA Champions League game of the campaign, having kicked things off with a 0-0 draw against Inter Milan last week.
TNT Sports will show over 500 matches from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League across the 2024/25 season. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination.
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