Guardiola on Rodri’s fitness and Man City’s ‘not ideal’ preparations for FA Cup final

Guardiola on Rodri’s fitness and Man City’s ‘not ideal’ preparations for FA Cup final

Pep Guardiola says a late call will be made on whether Rodri can feature against Chelsea in the FA Cup final.

The midfielder has missed the last four games for City with a muscle injury and asked whether he could be back on Saturday, the City boss said: “We’ll see. He’ll travel and we’ll see.

Guardiola does not have any other fitness concerns ahead of the cup final, but is concerned by the lack of preparation his side have had compared to Chelsea.

City faced Crystal Palace on Wednesday in the Premier League, while Chelsea have had a week to rest for the clash at Wembley.

Stay up to date with all the latest Manchester City news by joining our Man City WhatsApp channel.

“I would prefer seven days like Chelsea had but when you reach the final of the Carabao Cup and you win one of the domestic trophies, you have less days,” he said.

“It happened in the past when we won the titles. The schedule is what it is so of course it’s not ideal but it is what it is. We did it in the past and we have to do it tomorrow.

“When you are in more difficult circumstances than the opponents, you have to do extra, this is what we have to do. It’s simple.

“It’s not the perfect scenario to prepare for the final because we haven’t trained absolutely anything since the game against Crystal Palace but we have to rely on what we have to do and we’re going to try.”