Pep Guardiola expects ‘irreplaceable’ Rodri to be out for a ‘long, long time’

Manchester City are still waiting for confirmation of how long Rodri will be out for, with Pep Guardiola expecting the midfielder will be sidelined for a long time.

But Guardiola raised hopes that Rodri will not be out for the season, the City manager said there are conflicting views on the severity of his knee problem with a final verdict expected on Wednesday.

The Euro 2024 winner came off in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal and has been undergoing tests as City wait to discover if he has suffered a cruciate ligament problem.

Guardiola said: “Still we don’t have the definitive [verdict]. He will be out for a long time, a while, but there is some opinions that will be less than we expect. Right now still I cannot tell you. We are waiting on the last phone calls for him and the doctor on what definitely he has and the surgery he needs. We will find out tomorrow.”

The City manager described Rodri’s mood as “strong, sad and waiting the final decision”.

Guardiola again called his fellow Spaniard as the best holding midfielder in the game but said it is up to him to find a way to cope without the 28-year-old.

He added: “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 I have a duty to find a solution.

“But it is football, it happens. When one player is irreplaceable we find solutions as a team. Last season, we were three months without Erling [Haaland], five months without Kevin [de Bruyne] and we found solutions.”

Rodri scored the winner in the 2023 Champions League final and was named man of the match then and player of the tournament in both the 2023 Nations League and Euro 2024 while Rodri has only finished on the losing side in one game has started for club and country since March 2023.