Manchester City to Include Ballon d'Or Winner Rodri in Their Champions League Squad

Manchester City to Include Ballon d'Or Winner Rodri in Their Champions League Squad

Manchester City has included Ballon d'Or winner Rodri in their Champions League squad, with the Spanish star showing hopes of returning after an injury this season. The club has made space for Rodri in their squad for the knockout stage of the European competition, despite the fact that he tore his right ACL against Arsenal last September.

UEFA set a deadline of midnight Thursday for submitting updated squads for European competitions. Manchester City confirmed that, although they had the opportunity to make three new signings in the transfer window, they did not include 18-year-old defender Vitor Reis, who joined from Palmeiras last month, in the squad.

Rodri’s season had seemed to be over, but the Spain international has set a target for his return in April, meaning he could be back before City’s Champions League quarter-finals begin on April 8.

Meanwhile, City must continue their Champions League journey without Rodri, who scored the winning goal in the 2023 final against Inter Milan. City is now preparing for knockout-stage matches against Real Madrid, which will be held on Tuesday and February 19. The winner of this tie will play either Atlético Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the next round.

City manager Pep Guardiola spoke to reporters on Friday, saying, "After the game against Leyton Orient, we will quickly return to Manchester and start talking about Real Madrid."

"Of course, my focus will be on Real Madrid, but Leyton Orient deserves our attention; if not, we wouldn’t have reached so many FA Cup semi-finals and finals in the last five or six years."

As for new signings in the Champions League squad, Guardiola has included midfielder Nico González, who can play in place of Rodri, forward Omar Marmoush, and defender Abdulkodir Khusanov. Guardiola stated that 23-year-old González, who signed on transfer deadline day, is "very important."

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager added, "This is a position where we were weak in Rodri’s absence."