“How would you feel?” – Pep Guardiola discusses Rodri’s mental health amid injury struggles | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has leant into the mental health of defensive midfield star Rodri as the Spaniard continues his recovery from his latest injury blow.

Rodri has been missing from action since he sustained a hamstring pull in Manchester City’s 1-0 Premier League victory away at Brentford in early October – the latest of an array of fitness issues the 29-year-old midfielder has struggled with over the course of the most challenging year of his career.

The Ballon d’Or winning star suffered an ACL rupture against Arsenal in September 2024 which kept him on the sidelines till May 2025 – when Rodri made his long-awaited return to the pitch as a substitute in Manchester City’s 3-1 triumph over Bournemouth – in Kevin De Bruyne’s final home appearance for the Blues before his transfer to Napoli.

City’s midfield honcho made a step up in his recovery at the FIFA Club World Cup in June – though it turned out to be one step forward, two steps back for the former Atletico Madrid man, who suffered a fitness setback in the United States that delayed his start to the 2025-26 campaign.

Speaking to the media in a recent press conference, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was quizzed on the mental health of Rodri – as the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner continues to work on getting back to full fitness amid the festive period.

“What will you do if you’re a football player or a journalist and during 18 months you cannot do your job? How would you feel? You want to write, you want inspiration in lectures, how good you are, and you cannot do it. How would you feel? You’d feel bad,” Guardiola said in a passionate tone.

After making his first start for the Blues in nearly a year in a 2-1 defeat to Brighton at the end of August, Rodri returned to full fitness and started regularly in September as City turned a corner after a lousy start to the season, with the Spaniard playing a crucial role in wins over Manchester United and Napoli.

However, the hamstring pull he suffered against Brentford has kept Rodri out of the frame since and though the Ballon d’Or winner has been training with the first-team in full capacity for over a month, Guardiola and his coaching staff have been taking extra caution against once again potentially rushing their best player back to action before he is fully ready.

“Of course and everyone,” Guardiola added when asked whether Rodri has to be ‘mentally strong’ at this time. “Yeah, of course, strong. He has to be strong and in some moments he’s sad. I would not be happy if he’s not sad. I’d not be happy if he’s not concerned about that.

“But now he has to be clean, say, ‘Okay, last step. I’m on the verge to come back. Don’t make one step further to make one thousand steps backwards’. That’s what we try to do. Because the season still is a thousand million in front of us, ahead, we have many nice, nice things to live.

“And he has to be there, and will be there. He has a World Cup there. And next season, next season, next season. As much as we recover there, it will not be for now, it will be for the end of the season, next season. And that is the main thing.”

Manchester City closed the gap to league leaders Arsenal over the weekend after a 3-0 win over Sunderland and the Blues are in fine form to take on Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League group-stage on Wednesday evening.