Guardiola: Rodri and Stones getting better but won’t start against Al Ain | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says that while Rodri and John Stones are improving all the time in training, they won’t play from the start against Al Ain.

City face the Abu Dhabi-based side in Atlanta at 02:00 (UK) on Monday 23 June in our second FIFA Club World Cup Group G match.

After victory over Wydad in Philadelphia on Wednesday, we know that a win here should see us through to the Round of 16 with a game to spare.

Rodri played the last 30 minutes of that game, while Stones watched from the sidelines.

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Both missed significant parts of the 2024/25 domestic campaign through injury, with Rodri only returning from a serious knee injury for a cameo in the final home game and Stones last featuring in February.

Asked in his press conference at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday, Guardiola stated both players won’t be in his starting XI against Al Ain.

He did however praise the attitude of the pair and provide a positive update on their work on the training pitch.

“He’s getting better,” he said first about Rodri.

“We can’t forget, it’s almost nine months since the sad day what happened. It’s an injury between 10 and 12 months. It’s a long injury.

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“He’s getting better and if he can play 20 to 30 minutes it’ll be good. I know he wants to be there but we need to protect him and him feel good in his knee.

“The minutes he played last game help and hopefully tomorrow too. Hopefully one day soon he can play from the beginning.”

Asked afterwards about Stones, Guardiola went into detail about his relationship with the England defender who arrived at City in the same summer as him back in 2016.

“Only what we want from John is to be fit and make his lovely job of playing football consistently in a different way to how it happened especially last season.

“The rest, his talent and ability, he will do it. We will help him and I’m pretty sure he’ll do the rest.

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“We’ve been together almost a decade, since I arrived he arrived, the many good and sad things we shared, he’s a sensitive person and an incredible human being.

“I see him suffer when he can’t be involved, it’s so sad but important now is at training sessions, he feels better and then the game is another issue.

“It’s another rhythm and demanding but as much as he arrived a few days in Manchester and now here he trained almost all the session s with us and feels good.

“This is what we want of him.”