Rodri suffered an injury setback as Manchester City were knocked out of the Club World Cup in a 4-3 extra-time defeat to Al-Hilal in Orlando. The midfielder, making only his fifth appearance since returning from a serious knee injury, came on in the 53rd minute but was forced off in the 100th. Manager Pep Guardiola said Rodri 'complained about his situation'.
City took the lead through Bernardo Silva in the ninth minute, but goals from Marcus Leonardo and Malcom put Al-Hilal ahead. Erling Haaland equalised in the 55th minute to force extra time. Kalidou Koulibaly's strike was answered by Phil Foden, before Leonardo scored the winner in the 112th minute. Guardiola criticised his side's lack of ruthlessness, saying: 'We had to score and be clinical. We created a lot but could not finish it.'
The defeat ends a difficult campaign for City, which included a poor Premier League title defence and an FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace. Guardiola was asked if he had seen enough to believe City can challenge again next season. 'It is too early to say,' he replied. 'But there have been many good things I did not see in the recent past.'
Bernardo Silva insisted the team would regroup. 'When we start the Premier League, we will forget and focus on having a great season,' he said. 'We’ve had a lot of frustrations in the past and managed to come back. We’re going to try to do that again.' Al-Hilal manager Simone Inzaghi praised his side: 'We knew we had to climb Mount Everest without oxygen and we were great.'
