Orlando, June 27 (IANS) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola revealed that midfielder Rodri wanted to play more minutes than originally planned in Thursday’s 5-2 FIFA Club World Cup win over Juventus.

City’s defensive midfielder Rodri was making his first start since suffering an ACL injury in September 2024 in Thursday’s match. Guardiola admitted he had planned for him to play for 45 minutes against Juventus in what was the club’s final Group G clash.

But Rodri was keen to kick on his match fitness after returning from an eight-month injury absence, instead played for 66 minutes of the victory over the Italians, which gave them the top spot in the group.

“We had to make a step. Of course, we were lucky a little bit that the sun was behind the clouds; it was hot and humid, but sooner or later he has to play.

“It was a process of 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 35. I said, ‘OK, the idea was to play 45 minutes, but at half-time he said, ‘No, I want to play five or ten minutes more, the game was under control, we had a lot of the ball; he didn’t lose a lot of transitions. In the last two games, we conceded a lot of transitions,” Guardiola was quoted by the club’s official website.

“Everyone knows how important he is, when the best player in the world isn’t there, it’s a miss. That’s clear. But I’m happy he did a good 60 minutes and hopefully he can again help us a lot like he always has since he arrived,” he added.

The game also saw Erling Haaland strike soon after coming on as a second-half substitute to chalk up his 300th career goal for club and country. It was the latest remarkable statistic registered by the Norwegian.

“All I can say is congratulations. Scoring 300 goals at 24 years old, this is quite good, right? You are too young, you didn’t see me, but I scored 11 in 11 years, imagine that situation! I admire lot the good strikers. I’m so happy for Erling, for his goal again and being involved in the short spaces. It was really good,” Guardiola said.

With a win over Juventus, City are now the leading scorers at the global showpiece with 13, one ahead of Bayern Munich. After putting on a clinical performance at Camping World Stadium to top Group G, Guardiola’s men have set up a Round of 16 clash with Al Hilal, the runners-up in Group H.

–IANS

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