Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about Rodri and the effort of his players in their 3-1 defeat to Bodo/Glimt
Rodri walks off the pitch
Rodri received a pair of yellow cards(Image: 2026 Getty Images)
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Pep Guardiola suggested Rodri was unlucky to get a 'soft' second yellow card as he defended Manchester City's performance in Bodo. The Blues were stunned 3-1 to give their hosts their first ever Champions League victory and see City lose further momentum in a season that has badly stalled.
Arriving in Norway without 10 players due to a range of factors, City started a strong team but they were comfortably second best against a home team that had a hunger for the game that the visitors could not match. Rayan Cherki threatened to get City back into the game when he pulled a goal back to make it 3-1 in the second half, but moments later Rodri picked up two yellow cards in a minute to see City reduced to 10-men and they could not recover.
Guardiola had sympathy for Rodri when asked about the decision in his press conference and also defended his 'fragile' team. However, the links back to last season will worry Blues who are concerned by what they have seen over the last few weeks in the Premier League and Champions League.
"It’s a difficult situation. We lose a ball and made a transition and they are fast. Sometimes you react. I don’t know if the second one is a bit soft but it is what it is," said Guardiola.
"At the moment, 3-1 and then [the red card] after one minute, everything is a little against for many things. When we started on New Year’s Day in Sunderland we miss what we miss and after we started to get injuries and injuries and Matheus [Nunes] has flu. Many things are against us and in that level in the Champions League or against United it is more difficult to have that consistency that we had for one or two months where we were winning games and being there.
"Now, because we lost important players we lost a little bit but in general the tone of the team was much better than the last one. We had important players back home that could not give consistency to the team. They were a little fragile like last season in certain periods but how they fought 10 against 11 and a lot of players made a step up.
"We have to change the dynamic quick against Wolves and then Galatasaray and we are waiting for players to come back step by step."
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