This is why we tried to be gentle - Guardiola on Rodri injury

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hopes Rodri will not be sidelined for longer than "two or three weeks" after the midfielder hobbled off in the first half of Sunday's victory over Brentford.

Rodri, who missed the vast majority of last season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), suffered the injury inside the first 20 minutes at Gtech Community Stadium.

The midfielder looked crestfallen as he left the pitch, being replaced by Nico Gonzalez.

"It's muscular," Guardiola confirmed. "Of course I don't want to lose him [at all] because he is such an important player.

"We tried to take care of him, but it is what it is."

Rodri has featured just 15 times since the 2023-24 season and missed last weekend's 5-1 victory over Burnley because of knee pain.

Guardiola had to field questions about the 29-year-old's fitness at his pre-match news conference on Friday, two days after withdrawing the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner an hour into City's 2-2 draw with Monaco in the Champions League.

Eric Dier's late penalty rescued a point for the Ligue 1 club after Rodri had departed, but Guardiola says the Spain international's injury on Sunday vindicated his decision to take him off at Stade Louis II.

"I was right, no?" he told Sky Sports. "You asked me why I don't play him 90 minutes all the time. The journalists always ask me why I substitute him.

"This is why we tried to be gentle and play [him] for 60-65 minutes."

In-form Erling Haaland was City's match-winner at Brentford, scoring the only goal in the ninth minute to earn Guardiola his 250th victory in the Premier League.