Inside Rodri’s desperate medical scramble around Spain for clarity on serious knee injury

Manchester City midfielder Rodri spent Monday travelling throughout Spain to gauge second opinions on his serious knee injury sustained against Arsenal on Sunday.

The Spain international was withdrawn in the 21st minute of Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal, having sustained a knee injury inside the opposition penalty area whilst attacking a Manchester City corner.

Marshalled by the Gunners’ Thomas Partey, Rodri appeared to plant his right leg into the Etihad Stadium surface and lodging his knee in an awkward position, immediately showing clear discomfort and calling for medical attention and a subsequent substitution.

Despite originally being accompanied by a stretcher on the field, Rodri left the field accompanied by two medical staff members, replaced by Mateo Kovacic in the defensive midfield role for the hosts for the remainder of the game.

Now, in light of initial testing undertaken in Manchester, Rodri has travelled to Spain for further examination and travelled between two major cities to gauge second opinions on the problem in an attempt to receive more encouraging news.

That is according to the information of Spanish media outlet El Desmarque, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, who report that Rodri made a trip to Barcelona to visit Manchester City’s go-to medical professional Dr. Ramon Cugat on Monday.

Former Spain international Kiko Narváez explained on the programme that Manchester City’s fitness coach, Lorenzo Buenaventura also travelled with the 28-year-old midfielder to Barcelona this week.

El Desmarque journalist Nuria Cruz went on to explain that after arriving in Barcelona on Monday, Rodri then made a trip to Madrid later on the same day in order to get a ‘second opinion’ from different doctors in the Spanish capital.

However, test results on Rodri’s knee injury received by Manchester City have since shown that manager Pep Guardiola is likely to be without his go-to defensive midfield star for a significant period of time.

Nuria Cruz explained, “He (Rodri) travelled to Madrid to find out more about his injury. Yesterday (Sunday) there was optimism but today (Monday) the first tests have determined that there is a torn cruciate ligament. He will miss the rest of the season.”

Manchester City and Pep Guardiola will now have to seek alternative solutions to Rodri’s much-needed services at the base of their three-man midfield, but could look towards Mateo Kovacic as their go-to option whilst the Spaniard is absent.

Kovacic started most of Manchester City’s opening run of games this season, and Guardiola’s side remained faultless by winning all of their first four matches in the division against Chelsea, Ipswich Town, West Ham United, and Brentford.

However, other solutions could include Ilkay Gundogan, or Rico Lewis and John Stones inverting from a right-back role. Teenage talent Nico O’Reilly was used alongside Kovacic throughout pre-season in the defensive midfield role, and he could yet be considered.