Manchester City midfielder Rodri is confident the international break will give him ample time to recover from the hamstring injury which brought his appearance in Sunday’s win over Brentford to an abrupt end.
Manager Pep Guardiola has spoken openly about his concerns over Rodri’s long-term fitness. The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner is just 12 months out from an ACL injury which limited him to just three Premier League appearances last year and has already played more minutes this year than he did across the entirety of the 2024–25 campaign.
Fresh fitness complaints saw Rodri miss the 5–1 win over Burnley but he was thrown straight back into the starting lineup for Sunday’s trip to Brentford, in which he limped off after just 20 minutes with a hamstring problem.
He will now sit out the international break, having initially been called up by Spain, but Rodri is hopeful two weeks will be enough to get him back to full fitness.
“I’m good,” he said. “I felt a little bit in the hamstring but it seems like it’s not that much.
“I stretched the leg a little bit, a bit like in the Euros final. I stretched a little bit but it’s part of the process. I don't feel that I feel tired muscle wise, I feel fresh but the most important thing is it’s not that big.
“It’s part of the process. The good thing about this is you get out, you don’t let the muscle stretch now. The good thing is the break so it will be even better in this sense to recover these days and hopefully I can be in the next game.”
An immediate return for Rodri would see him feature at home to Everton on Oct. 18, but Guardiola may opt to rest the star midfielder ahead of City’s trip to Villarreal, Rodri’s former employers, in the Champions League three days later.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Part of the Process’—Rodri Offers Potential Injury Return Timeline.
