Man City boss Guardiola updates on Rodri’s potential ban and midfielder’s future | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Rodri will be available to play against Newcastle, despite the FA’s misconduct charge.

The midfielder questioned the impartiality of the referee following his team’s 2-2 draw with Spurs, and is now expected to receive a suspension. Guardiola has already confirmed that the club will not appeal the FA’s decision.

“The club didn’t inform anything, so he’s ready to play tomorrow,” said his manager. “I don’t have any other info.

“The club didn’t say to me he cannot play, so we wait.”

“Yeah, by far,” City’s boss answered on whether the Spaniard is improving. “As much as he’s not injured, in long weeks we work and train, and yeah.”

It has now been 18 months since Rodri suffered his ACL injury but he has endured multiple setbacks during his recovery. He is yet to return to his best level which saw him claim the Ballon D’Or.

Guardiola explained: “We came back too early. With our desire to come back, him especially, we came back early. That’s why it was longer. It’s a good lesson.

“The human being has a time of recovery. There are players that can recover earlier, like Bernardo, for example, or Phil, and the other one needs more time.

“But the human being, when you are injured, there is a time. You can do whatever you want – go to the pool, go hiking, go do whatever you want. You need the proper time to recover.

“That’s why it was 18 months now, but he came back earlier – in the Club World Cup and the other ones, but he stepped back.

“We wanted this and needed a little bit more time. Still, he’s not at his best, but every time his mood and his training, and he’s playing many things, he’s a special player.”

The 29-year-old has just 18 months left on his current deal, which is set to expire next summer. Asked about a potential contract extension, Guardiola replied: “I would love it, desperately. I would love it.

“Rodri is Rodri. He’s a player where the more age he has, the wiser he is, the more he understands the game.

“Players feel that when he’s on the pitch, not just the manager his teammates feel ‘we are better, we feel better’. That is experience, timing, especially what I’ve said many times.

“There are players that are defined in the bigger stages, in the difficulties, and Rodri is one of them. Like Berni, like Ruben, many of them I’ve had in the past, like Kevin, like Gundo. A lot of them.

“That defines the biggest teams and the biggest clubs. You cannot achieve what we achieve if you don’t have huge personalities.”

The Catalan continued: “I’ve always said many times, when you have seasons in the Premier League, you don’t win 5-0 every weekend. No. This isn’t fairytale history, it’s fine.

“But other people say, ‘how good was Man City?’, Man City was good, we won a lot of games, 1-0, 0-1, playing rubbish, playing not good.

“But personalities, how we handled those moments, how we dealt with that, come through them, and that’s why we had success.”