Man City: Expert gives grim ACL verdict as Pep waits on Rodri injury news after Arsenal draw

Rodri looks in pain as he goes down off the ball.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola is still waiting to hear the extent of the injury Rodri sustained in the Citizens’ 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Sunday.

The Citizens midfielder went down clutching his knee just one minute before Riccardo Calafiori scored the Gunners’ equalising goal to make it 1-1 in the first half.

Rodri managed to hobble off with Guardiola replacing the Spain international with Mateo Kovacic after it seemed like he twisted his knee when challenging Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey.

It is still unclear exactly how long Rodri could be out for but any length of time will be a blow with the Spaniard seen as the best defensive midfielder in the world.

When asked how bad Rodri’s injury is, Man City boss Guardiola told reporters: “I don’t know yet, I didn’t ask the doctors. Rodri is strong. He leaves the pitch in this action because he felt something, otherwise Rodri stays there.

“He’s the best holding midfielder in the world, he is a potential Ballon d’Or winner, I would love for him to win.

“But it happened in the first minutes. These games with Arsenal are like that and we have to handle it. We did it. We did really good things.”

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But now football injury analyst Physio Scout has claimed that it looked like an ACL tear, which could rule Rodri out for the rest of the season.

Physio Scout wrote on X: ‘Rodri was taken off in the first half in Man City vs. Arsenal with a knee injury after a tussle in the corner. Via video analysis, we believe it’s an ACL tear (+/- meniscus injury), as right knee shifts into knee valgus, direction change and a slight tibia bone shift.

‘Scans will be necessary to confirm the injury. Best case here is that it’s just a meniscus injury, but the injury did not look good. Hopefully, he avoids an ACL injury at all costs here. Recovery Time: 9+ months Big news for Manchester City if confirmed.’

Man City were aggrieved by some of the officiating during the match, with Kyle Walker caught out of position for Calafiori’s equaliser having been called over to speak to referee Michael Oliver.

On Calafiori’s goal, Guardiola said after the match: “My concern is – I want to be honest – when the referee asks Walker to go 20 miles away from his position, maybe you have to wait.

“But we have to organise better and the second ball we can block, but you have to defend better, Gabriel and Kyle didn’t do that.

“Listen, they bring us this type of game Arsenal and we have to handle it and we did it.”

Guardiola added: “We can do better but next time I will say to my players, when the referee asks ‘come to talk to me’, I will say ‘come here to me’, so we will not go.”

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