ATLANTA — If Rodri has come to the Club World Cup to send a message to Pep Guardiola that he’s ready to be thrust back into action, he wasted no time in delivering it.
Ahead of Manchester City‘s first session on their first day at their Florida training base, it was Rodri who was out on the grass before anyone else. He enlisted one of the many coaches in Guardiola’s backroom staff as a training partner and as his teammates were still trotting out onto the pitch, he was already fizzing passes from touchline to touchline. One poor touch from his partner — caught by the assembled TV cameras — prompted howls of laughter from the Spanish midfielder.
Guardiola, and everyone else at City, will be glad to see Rodri smiling again.
It’s nine months since he limped off the Etihad Stadium pitch, almost in tears, his knee ligaments damaged to such an extent that he would require surgery. In isolation, the 2-2 draw against Arsenal — secured thanks to a 90th-minute John Stones equaliser — was a good result. In reality, though, it was the day City’s hopes of a record-breaking fifth successive Premier League title began to go up in smoke.
Guardiola has been keen to stress that Rodri’s long absence was not the only factor in City’s worst season for a decade. But even now, he’s still struggling to hide the scale of the impact.
“He’s getting better,” said Guardiola on Saturday. “It’s almost nine months since the sad day it happened. He has been out for a long time. He’s getting better. He can play 20 minutes, 30 minutes at a time.
“He wants to play to help, but we want to protect his knee. He wants to help. Hopefully one day soon, he can play from the beginning.”
Guardiola is continuing to be cautious. Rodri spent the early part of his recovery in Spain, but returned to Manchester after Christmas to step up his rehabilitation. He was back on the grass at the City Football Academy in February and by April, he was pushing to play. It wasn’t until the penultimate game of the season against Bournemouth in late May that he finally returned, given seven minutes off the bench with the game already won.
At the Club World Cup, Rodri is one of only four members of City’s 27-man squad who hasn’t started a game. But after 30 minutes apiece against Wydad AC and Al Ain in the opening two games in the U.S., he’s starting to build up his match fitness.
There will be a temptation for Guardiola to pick Rodri from the start against Juventus in Orlando on Thursday, as the winner will top Group G and possibly avoid Real Madrid in the last-16. It’s a big game in the context of City’s Club World Cup campaign and Rodri — scorer of the winning goal in the 2023 Champions League final — is his big-game player.
The size of the hole in the team was so great that City spent nearly £50 million to bring Nico Gonzalez over from FC Porto in January. He was referred to by Guardiola as a “mini Rodri”, but so far it’s proven to be an impossible tag to live up to.
“He is an amazing player and really good in everything that can be good in a midfielder,” said Gonzalez. “I am trying to learn the most I can, and I think I am starting to watch him at his best level. I am seeing things that I haven’t seen in a lot of midfielders.
“I try to learn as much as possible. He’s obviously the best midfielder in the world. I think he’s still coming back and doing a really good job every time he comes in. So I hope I can learn from him and sometimes play together. I think that would be amazing.”
Now 29, Rodri is one of the senior men in the City dressing room. He’s been named in Guardiola’s leadership group this season and has been ear-marked for the captaincy in the future, although that is likely to depend on whether he extends his contract, which has two years left to run.
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Pep Guardiola and Man City relax with some beach football
Pep Guardiola joins his Man City players in a game of beach football, during some downtime between Club World Cup clashes.
Oscar Bobb was out injured at the same time as Rodri last season and gave an insight into Rodri’s leadership even when he wasn’t on the pitch.
“I think it helped having an experienced player by my side in some ways,” said Bobb. “We spent a lot of days together and just seeing how strong he was helped me a lot. Even though he had an injury that was worse than mine, he stayed strong and he was in every day, just trying to get back.
“He’s a leader. He’s great in every way really. He’s helpful, welcoming and very professional.”
With new players and new coaches, Guardiola is talking about the Club World Cup as a fresh start. It’s the start of a new season, he says, rather than the continuation of the last one. There’s excitement around the signings of Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Rayan Aït-Nouri, as well as the intrigue around what Jurgen Klopp’s former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders will bring to the coaching staff.
But for all the talk of a clean slate and a new era, it’s the return of a familiar face that will give Guardiola and City fans the biggest lift. Rodri is finally ready to go.
