How Manchester City’s ‘best teacher’ has helped Nico Gonzalez unlock his best form | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explained how Rodri has helped catapult Nico Gonzalez into a first-team regular this season.

Gonzalez has been in excellent form for the Blues this season amid Rodri’s fitness woes since the Ballon d’Or winning midfielder suffered an injury at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States in June that delayed his start to the season.

Rodri has endured a difficult year with injury after rupturing his ACL in a 2-2 draw against Arsenal in September 2024 that kept the 29-year-old on the sidelines for the entirety of the previous campaign.

After marking his long-awaited comeback to the pitch in May against Bournemouth, Rodri only made his first start for Manchester City since his ACL injury against Brighton in August – a game wherein the Spain international dominated in midfield but his side fell to a 2-1 defeat that left them languishing in the bottom half of the table.

However, City have since gotten their act together and turned a corner to claw themselves back into the conversation for the Premier League title, with Sunday’s 3-0 win over Liverpool marking the Blues’ 11th win in 14 games in all competitions since September.

Rodri was a regular feature in City’s starting XI in September but after pulling his hamstring against Brentford at the start of October, the former Atletico Madrid man has warmed the bench as Guardiola and co allow the Villarreal academy graduate to take his time and recover after what has been the most challenging year of Rodri’s career.

Meanwhile, Nico Gonzalez has made his name as Guardiola’s go-to man in the middle of the park amid Rodri’s absence and the 23-year-old is playing his best football since he moved to England from Porto in January.

Speaking in a press conference in the days leading to City’s 3-0 victory over Liverpool, Guardiola was asked if he can be more patient with Rodri amid Nico’s good form. “Yeah, we have continuity, yeah, absolutely,” the 54-year-old said.

“But don’t misunderstand me; I want, we want Rodri back, yes or yes. As quick as possible. But I don’t want him back and after a while he has to make a little bit of a step back. This is a small thing but we don’t want that.

“Of course, in that process, with Kova (Mateo Kovacic) now – we don’t have him for the next time as well – so we have three holding midfielders proper, and just we have one. But yeah, it’s massively important that, you know, without Nico it will be more difficult.”

On whether Rodri has helped Gonzalez unlock his best form for City in recent months, Guardiola added: “Yeah a lot. Only I want from Rodri is to be happy. Always Rodri is start to smile, enjoy again, and now it has been tough because he’s one of the most competitive football players I’ve ever met in my career. How he pushes his mates is unbelievable.

“And I want him (Rodri) to have to even enjoy the process of being out for a while right now. The toughest period is gone, it’s the third month or fourth month, fifth month, sixth month, seventh month with a long, long injury.

“But now he (Rodri) is at the end and we have to try to say, ‘Okay, I’ll be back with nothing, around the corner. And I will come back and enjoy with the team to do it’. But being outside when he’s involved with us, always he’s incredibly positive, and with Nico helped a lot. And I think Nico has the best teacher, you know, that can be taught in that position, like with Rodri.”

Gonzalez was on the scoresheet for Manchester City at the weekend as he gave the hosts a vital two-goal cushion against Liverpool on the cusp of half-time before Jeremy Doku added a brilliant third from distance in the second-half at the Etihad Stadium.