Sawt Falasteen - Man City's Rodri to miss rest of season with ACL injury

"He had surgery this morning, ACL and some meniscus" said Guardiola. "So, next season he will be here. This season is over."

The Spain international suffered the injury during the first half of last Sunday's 2-2 draw with Arsenal in the Premier League.

Rodri's loss is a huge blow to City's hopes of winning a fifth consecutive Premier League title, as well as their ambitions of reclaiming the Champions League crown.

Guardiola, speaking on the eve of his team's Premier League match against Newcastle, underlined the importance of the defensive midfielder.

"It's a lot of months without an important player for us, everybody knows it," he said, though he added that he remained upbeat.

"There's not one day in the last years that I was not confident.

"Of course we are stronger with him, we are stronger with Nathan Ake... we are stronger with Oscar Bobb and all the injuries with Kevin (De Bruyne) and we know that, but it is what it is," Guardiola said.

Rodri, 28, played a key role as City held off Arsenal to win a fourth straight Premier League title last season and was named player of the tournament at Euro 2024 as Spain emerged triumphant.

The former Atletico Madrid man has lost just one match for club or country in 18 months -- the FA Cup final against Manchester United -- and has been touted as a potential Ballon d'Or winner.

City's Premier League win rate with their midfield lynchpin in the team is 74.1 percent but without him it drops to 61.9 percent.

Rodri had already had a frustrating start to the season, missing City's first four games, including the Community Shield, after suffering a hamstring injury.

D.Khalil--SF-PST