“I think for tomorrow he will not be ready,” Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said of Rodri ahead of Wednesday’s 1-0 win at Burnley.
City needed to secure all the spoils to leapfrog Arsenal into top spot in the Premier League. Erling Haaland’s fifth-minute strike was enough to separate the two teams at Turf Moor in midweek. While City could, and perhaps should, have won by more, they got the job done ahead of the run-in.
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Attention now turns to the FA Cup semi-final meeting with Southampton on Saturday. City are hunting down a domestic treble as they look to follow up last month’s EFL Cup success over with further trophies. The game against Saints won’t be a walk in the park. They’ve already claimed one Premier League scalp having defeated Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the competition.
Tonda Eckert has worked wonders since taking over the St. Mary’s reins in November. Indeed, Saints have gone from relegation fodder to promotion contenders. And while Guardiola will hope to have his star man Rodri available, City should have enough to come out on top against the south coast side this weekend with or without the Spaniard.
Gonzalez started Burnley win on the bench
What was interesting, though, was Guardiola’s decision to overlook compatriot Nico Gonzalez at Turf Moor. Gonzalez replaced Rodri for the final knockings of the Arsenal win in a like-for-like change as the latter struggled with a calf problem. Logic would dictate that the former Porto man would start alongside Bernardo Silva in a 4-2-3-1 setup.
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‘Logic’ isn’t a word in Guardiola’s vocabulary. Rather, he pushed Nico O’Reilly into midfield and started Rayan Ait-Nouri at left-back. The former shone in defence against Arsenal but was preferred in his favoured midfield berth at Turf Moor. The issue, then, is what next for Gonzalez?
The 24-year-old penned a four-and-a-half-year deal when he made the move to the Etihad Stadium last January. The decision to sign Gonzalez was to act as Rodri’s deputy. And it’s one that has worked well. The former has started 15 league games, the latter 16 this season. Only twice have City not started either Gonzalez or Rodri in a league match in the 2025-26 campaign. The 1-0 loss at Aston Villa in October, and the 1-0 win at Burnley on Wednesday.
Midfielder excelled off the bench at Turf Moor
Guardiola won’t start both players together, but the pattern has largely been that when Rodri isn’t available, Gonzalez would start. Ultimately, he came on midway through the second half against Burnley to shore the side up. And in truth, the midfielder did little wrong.
Gonzalez made two tackles and one interception against the Clarets. He was tidy in possession, too, returning a 93.3% pass accuracy from 30 attempted passes. Admittedly Gonzalez doesn’t set the pulses racing. However, he is there to carry out a necessary duty in front of the defence.
And while Burnley didn’t offer much in the final third – they only managed one shot on target – three of their nine efforts were on the counter-attack. Had Burnley sported their shooting boots, it could have made for an incredibly uncomfortable evening for City.
Defensive phenom
Yet having been overlooked for such a crunch clash, even against a team of Burnley’s calibre, will have been a blow for Gonzalez. It’s not even as though Gonzalez has done a lot wrong when called upon. He carries out the nitty gritty defensive duties to a high standard.
2.4 tackles per 90 is fourth for City in the Premier League this season. Ait-Nouri (3.2), O’Reilly and Rodri (both 2.5) are those above Gonzalez for this metric. An 82.6% tackle success rate is also better than the likes of O’Reilly (75.9%) and Rodri (73.6%). Gonzalez is a ball-winning phenom. While the retention needs a little refinement, he’s the perfect stand-in for Rodri when needs must.
“Nico Gonzalez has helped us a lot, a lot this season in the absence of Rodri, and he’s helped us to be in the position that we are right now,” Guardiola enthused ahead of the Burnley game. The City boss evidently still thinks highly of the midfielder.
As such, it could be that Guardiola is saving Gonzalez for the Saints clash. It won’t be plain-sailing for Guardiola’s side. Arsenal found this out the hard way. Even so, Gonzalez will be hoping that he can return to the starting XI for Saturday’s clash.
If he is overlooked again, the midfielder may well consider his future at the club.
