“We missed him a lot, right?”

Pep Guardiola greeted Rodri’s influence on his return to Manchester City from XI after having Juventus Thrashed 5-2 In the Club World Cup.

The city won the Group G with a 100 percent record as a ninth minute of Jeremy Doku, a goal of Pierre Kalulu and goals by Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Savinho saw the victory in Orlando.

Rodri started for the first time since he started his ACL in September, with the absence of the winning gold dance for most of 2024-25, seen as a key factor behind a trophy campaign for the city where they did not confirm the champions league rating until the last day.

Its influence was clear during his 66 minutes on the pitch, and Guardiola was effusive in praise at the midfielder after the last dominant victory in the city.

Guardiola said Dazn: “We missed him (Rodri) a lot, right? I had the feeling of last season that we had an incredible team, but we had a lot of problems; injury, injuries, injuries.

“Which team will not lose the best player in the world? His composition knows exactly what he has to do with the ball, personality, many things.

“I didn’t expect it to play so much minutes after 45 years, but said, ‘A few more’, and the game was good in the second half with control, and then, okay! It will be ready for the next one!”

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Guardiola was delighted with the global performance of the city, with an Ederson mistake for Equalizer of eleven minutes by Teun Koopmeiners and the late Consol by Dusan Vlahovic for Juve, the only Bloats on the screen on his side.

“It’s a long time since we performed a performance like today, with and without the ball, and the players engaged,” added Guardiola.

“We have talked about what we need to improve to be who we were in the past and happy to finish first against a top, the top that showed it in the past and recent matches. We are waiting for who will be our opponent.

“Listen, it’s just a game! But I think today, more than anything else, the players felt what we have to do again to be a good team. There are no more secrets than that. It is not necessary for words or pictures, they played it and they knew it.”

The victory will probably see that the city will avoid facing the Real Madrid in the last 16. Los Blancos face Red Bull Salzburg in a Final of Group H, it is expected that he will win to achieve this group. Salzburg and Hilal are the other possible opponents of the city in the next round.