RODRI is out for the season after undergoing surgery on a knee injury.
The midfielder was forced off against Arsenal and will be sidelined until the end of the season.
Manchester City confirmed this week Rodri had damaged ligaments in his right knee.
And manager Pep Guardiola has now revealed he will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his ACL.
He said: “Surgery this morning, ACL and meniscus and next season he will be here. This season is over.
“Unfortunately we got the worst but these things happen. We will be there to support him in his recovery step-by-step.
“What he gives us, we don’t have a similar player. But the others can all together replace what Rodri has given since his arrival to us. We will have to do it as a team and find a way to play a lot of matches without an important player for us.”
Rodri, 28, travelled to Barcelona to see a knee specialist and an examination revealed ligament damage to the joint.
His injury is a big blow for City, who have struggled without the Spaniard in the past.
The Cityzens did win their first three Prem games of the season without him, with Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic deputising, but boffins reckon City will lose the title without him.
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MAN CITY are favourites to win the Premier League title yet again – but there is one elephant in the room that threatens to put the skids under the Etihad giants.
Sunsport’s MARTIN LIPTON discusses what the next few months could hold with Head of Sport SHAUN CUSTIS….
Custis: So the big question – will there be a resolution this season?
Lipton: Yes…. probably! We know the case will start to be dealt with in October or November.
It will take at least a month to go through the evidence. So I suspect around March, April time, we will get a result. But that’s where it starts to get tricky.
Custis: Why is that?
Lipton: If the result is in City’s favour, that’s the end of the matter. They will be cleared. They will have no punishment to face.
But if City are found guilty, these will be the heaviest penalties ever imposed by the Premier League.
I suspect if they are found guilty, they will be expelled from the league or given a massive points deduction and a huge fine so that they’re not in the Premier League next season.
Check out the full discussion on Man City’s future.
According to Opta, City have only lost 11 per cent of their games with Rodri in the team, and 24 per cent without him.
Based on that, it’s been calculated that City will finish on 80 points this season.
The last time a team won the title with that number was Manchester United in the 2010/11 term, with Arsenal managing 84 points and 89 points in the last two seasons.
Pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher also named Rodri as the player whose absence could most negatively affect City.
Neville said: “I was thinking, ‘who is he going to put in there? How is he going to play to compensate for the loss of this probably talisman type figure?’
“I think of only [Erling] Haaland probably that you could take out of the City team that would damage them as much as Rodri.
“I know [Kevin] De Bruyne’s there, I’m not ignoring him, but if you were Arsenal and you could take one player out of the City team, because they’ve lost [Julian] Alvarez you’d take Haaland out probably number one, you’d probably take Rodri out number two.”
