CITY MIDFIELDER RODRI OUT FOR REST OF THE SEASON WITH ACL INJURY
Manchester City midfielder Rodri is out for the remainder of the 2024/25 season with an anterior cruciate ligament tear, City manager Pep Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
Rodri sustained the injury on his right knee during the Cityzens’ hotly-contested 2-2 draw against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday last week. He was forced off just 21 minutes into the match after stumbling and falling while making a front-post run at a corner while being marshaled by Arsenal’s Thomas Partey.
The Spanish international immediately writhed in pain as his teammates quickly gestured at the City bench to bring on the medical stuff to attend to him. Rodri was replaced by Mateo Kovacic and had to watch from the locker room as his teammates gave up two goals after being 1-0 up and were forced to claw their way back from 2-1 down to earn a draw in stoppage time.
Rodri flew over to Spain on Monday to visit with doctors in Barcelona and had surgery on his knee on Friday. “He had surgery this morning, ACL and some meniscus. So, next season he will be here, [but] this season is over,” said Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. “Unfortunately, we got the worst [outcome] but it is what it is. In that level sometimes it unfortunately happens. We are there to support him, and good recovery, step by step, and move forward.”
Arguably the most important player for the fourth-consecutive defending Premier League champions, Rodri leads all City players in games started (35), successful passes (3,416), and possession won (242) over the last two seasons in the league. Despite playing a largely defensive role for Manchester City, Rodri is quite impressively third on the team in goal involvements (17), trailing only Kevin De Bryune and striker Erling Haaland.
“What he gives us we don’t have a similar player [on the team],” Guardiola emphasized on Friday. “But the other players, all together, can replace what Rodri has given us since his arrival here. So, we have to do it as a team and we have to find a way to play during a lot, a lot of months without an important player for us. Everybody knows it.”
City boast an impressive 78% win rate with the Spanish midfielder at the heart of their attack. That figure drops dramatically to 57% in games he wasn’t available. The Sky Blues lost all three Premier League games Rodri missed through suspension last season (against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Arsenal and Aston Villa) after he was shown a straight red card against Nottingham Forest in September. Rodri missed the 1-0 defeat away at Aston Villa in December due to accruing yellow cards. The Spaniard, himself, is currently on a personal unbeaten run spanning 52 fixtures.
“If we don’t win, it’s because we miss Rodri,” said Guardiola ahead of the team’s game away at Newcastle on Saturday. “There’s no days in the last [few] years that I was not confident. Of course, we are stronger with him, we are stronger with Nathan Ake – he’s not playing since he arrived from international break. We are stronger with Oscar Bobb and [without] all the injuries with Kevin [De Bryune]. We know that.”
“That is what it is, we don’t want it but football happens. It’s a period [with Rodri] because it’s a long injury and of course, it’s eight, nine months. And because after, it’s not after one month you’re going to be ready. After that comes the muscular injuries, you have to be careful because when you have an ACL injury, nine months, a year after, you have problems, muscular problems, for sure. So, that’s why it’s longer.”
With Rodri out for the rest of the campaign, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola didn’t rule out City making a move in the January transfer window to add another defensive midfielder in the 2024 UEFA EURO Player of the Tournament’s absence. In the meantime the Cityzens will have to lean on one of Ilkay Gundogan, Mateo Kovacic, Rico Lewis, or John Stones who can fill in that central role for the time being.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Timmy96. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication