Iconic Manchester City midfielder Rodri\u00a0says he has not given up hope on returning to the pitch this season.<\/p>\n
The Ballon d\u2019Or winner suffered an ACL injury\u00a0in September and underwent surgery. In his absence the Premier League champions have struggled to maintain their previously imperious form, especially in defense, losing five games in a row and throwing away a three-goal lead in an extraordinary collapse at home to Feyenoord in the Champions League\u00a0on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
City would be 11 points behind Liverpool should they concede the game at Anfield on Sunday and may have to consider their options in the January transfer window if results on the pitch continue to plummet.<\/p>\n
“My target is to come back this season,\u201d Rodri told Gary Lineker and Micah Richards on the\u00a0\u2018The Rest Is Football\u2019\u00a0<\/em>podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cI think in terms of my mentality it\u2019s going to be positive for me to not give up the season and throw it.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to run, you know, I don\u2019t want to make mistakes. But yeah, that\u2019s my mentality.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know when – In my target is six, seven months, but the physios, they will dictate.”<\/p>\n Rodri also said he did not approve of Real Madrid and Vinicius Jr\u2019s decision to skip last month\u2019s Ballon d\u2019Or ceremony with Real Madrid cancelling their trip to the Paris awards night after it emerged Rodri had won the vote for the individual prize. He said he and Erling Haaland had been in attendance when Lionel Messi won last year\u2019s award.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s a decision of individuals or clubs in general to decide what to do,\u201d Rodri said.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot respect the decision, I always said I wouldn\u2019t do it in the same way.<\/p>\n \u201cIn sport and in life, it\u2019s important to win. But I think even more how to lose and I say always the same, it was my moment, I didn\u2019t want to speak about others.<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t want to be there – I want to be with my club, with my family, the people that were there and clapped me and that was a fantastic moment.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"