Pep Guardiola reveals Man City star's new injury blow during Club World Cup humiliation

Pep Guardiola revealed Rodri suffered a fresh injury blow to rub salt in the wounds after Manchester City's Club World Cup humiliation. The City midfielder suffered the indignity of coming on as a substitute after 53 minutes then only to be subbed himself in extra time.

But Guardiola revealed it was because Rodri - who missed almost all of last season with a cruciate knee ligament injury - suffered a fresh injury blow.

Guardiola did not reveal the nature or extent of the injury but it is another massive setback on top of them losing their last remaining hope of silverware to salvage something from the season. They lost in extra time as Al-Hilal pulled off the biggest upset in the competition and the biggest result in their history.

City boss Guardiola said: “We have to see Rodri, he complained about his situation, but we need time to come back.”

Guardiola admitted his team were too slow to react but insisted they created and wasted enough chances to win the match. He added: “It was a difficult game. We allowed them to make transitions we created a lot. It is a pity, we have been on incredible journey together and so good place.

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“We were so open. When the crosses arrived, in the first action, they had the ability to pass the ball and attack and they have quick players. We created a lot and had a lot of chances against a team that defend so deep. They punished us on the transitions.”

Guardiola said the training camp had been good even if the tournament ended in disappointment. He added: “The vibe was really good, I cannot thank Manchester City enough and especially the players for training and how they have bene playing. The margins are minimal, they ran into transitions a bit, but we created a lot, Bono made incredible saves.

“We would have loved to have continued, only here once every four year, we had a feeling that the team is doing well but we go home and now it is time to rest and rest our minds for the new season.

“It is too early to say but so many good things I did not seen in the past. The relationship between the players, our captained helped a lot and the standards with staff. I felt we were happy here, the training sessions have been really good but the level of this competition is the World Cup and we regret a little bit that we allowed them to run a bit more.”

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