Rodri as Man City manager?! Pep Guardiola admits he 'allows' his injured Ballon d'Or winner to coach the team as hunt for top-five finish & FA Cup glory continues

The Spaniard was ruled out for the season when he tore his cruciate knee ligament against Arsenal in September but he has stepped up his recovery in recent weeks and was seen in the City dressing room before their crucial 2-1 win victory over Aston Villa on Tuesday, giving advice to his team-mates.

"I love that. All the guys who can't play and are injured, I allow them to be a manager. The role of a holding midfielder, Rodri knows perfectly and he can help the guys there," Guardiola told a press conference. "It's the way that creates teams, the bond, something special, when the guys who can't play can help the guys who are playing. Everybody wants to enjoy next season being in Europe. If they believe it's just for the 11 players playing they are wrong. So I like it."

Rodri, who became the first Manchester City player to win the Ballon d'Or last year, in has expressed his desire to return from injury before the end of the season and Guardiola admitted there was still a possibility of it happening but he stressed he would defer to the team's medical staff when deciding when to play him again. The coach explained: "I don’t know. Every training session he is doing with us, so he’s doing really well I would say. Rodri wants [to come back before the end of the season] but the doctors are going to tell me, ‘Pep, you have green lights to give him some minutes,’ or so on. I will rely on the doctors in that case."

City face Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley on Sunday, their seventh successive last-four tie in the world's oldest cup competition. And they will be bidding to reach the final for the third successive time, having won the trophy against Manchester United in 2023 and then losing to their arch rivals in 2024.

Guardiola admitted that even reaching the FA Cup final and finishing in the Champions League places will not undo the fact that his side have had a miserable campaign after a terrible defence of their Premier League title and exiting the Champions League in the knockout play-offs. He added: "The season hasn't been good, regardless of reaching the FA Cup final or going to the Champions League. But of course we'd avoid bigger damage for the club. From my point of view, what dictates whether the season has been good is the Premier League, all the time! Because it gives you week by week, happiness, momentum, and after FA Cups, Champions League - the keeper saves, not saves, penalty miss, not miss makes the difference. But the Premier League dictates how has been your season, and ours has not been good."