Guardiola: Rodri missed Burnley win with ´a lot of pain´ in his knee

Pep Guardiola confirmed that Manchester City midfielder Rodri missed their Premier League thrashing of Burnley due to pain in his knee.

It is just over a year since Rodri sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during a 2-2 draw with Arsenal that ruled him out for almost the entire 2024-25 campaign.

The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner has made five appearances in all competitions this season, totalling 331 minutes, with four of those outings coming from the start.

However, Rodri suffered a setback at the start of the season and missed City’s opening-day win over Wolves, while also sitting out of their 5-1 rout against Burnley on Saturday.

“Rodri was training and said, ‘I’m not able to play. I have a lot of pain in my knee. I cannot play, I cannot play.’ And I said, ‘if you cannot play, you cannot play’,” Guardiola said.

Since the Spain international joined City in July 2019, he has missed 97 games across all competitions, with his absence felt more than most last year.

Indeed, the Citizens have a win percentage of just 58.8% without Rodri patrolling their midfield, compared to 73% when the 29-year-old is fit and available to Guardiola.

City also concede more goals on average per match when Rodri is unavailable (0.8 with and 1.1 without), further signifying his importance to the team.

Nico Gonzalez deputised for Rodri in their victory over Burnley at Etihad Stadium, with the Spaniard playing just behind Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden in midfield.

Rico Lewis also covered the defensive midfield role during City’s 2-0 victory over Huddersfield Town in the EFL Cup.

Guardiola’s team return to Champions League action on Wednesday with a trip to Ligue 1 side Monaco, though the City boss was unsure whether Rodri would feature.

“I don’t know yet, I don’t know [about Rodri’s fitness],” Guardiola added.