Pep Guardiola said he has hope that Rodri could play again before the end of the season after the Ballon d’Or winner returned to training earlier than expected.
The Manchester City manager said he was excited to see the midfielder on the training pitches, though he pledged not to take any “stupid decisions” to rush Rodri into his team and suggested he is still several weeks away from playing.
But he feels it is possible the 28-year-old will feature before the finish of the Premier League campaign, in the Club World Cup, or possibly in the FA Cup final, if City get there.
Rodri suffered a cruciate ligament injury in September’s draw with Arsenal and has only made three appearances this season.
And Guardiola said: “The fans must know they are not the only ones who are excited. It's been five or six months. But one step at a time, we don't have to make stupid decisions to [pick him] weeks earlier. It's good but still he's not close to coming back, I'd say.
“But he's touching the ball today, in the locker room making touches with the players. He feels confident, he feels more happy. I could not expect [him to return] before the end of the season, not even the [Club] World Cup, in the Premier League [but now] maybe it's going to happen.”
But Guardiola has suffered another injury after Nathan Ake went off in Saturday’s 3-1 FA Cup win over Plymouth with a foot problem. The defender will undergo a scan as City seek to see how serious the problem is.
“We'll do the test but he struggles sometimes with the feet, probably, it's been like this the whole season, the central defenders,” Guardiola added.
Guardiola is now without three of the four centre-backs he had at the start of the season, with Manuel Akanji and John Stones also sidelined, and he believes City would stand no chance of a top-four finish if they had not signed Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in the January transfer window.
“Now again we have central defenders out,” Guardiola said. “I think we are going to miss Nathan. I’m so grateful to the club for bringing Vitor and Khusanov to the club otherwise we would not have any chance to qualify for the Champions League next season or fight for the FA Cup; we would have just Ruben [Dias]. It’s a miracle they are here to help us because the problems we have, have happened all season.”
