Manchester City have confirmed that Ballon d'Or winner Rodri and three new signings have been included in their Champions League squad for the knockout rounds of this season's competition.
The Spanish has not played for Man City since tearing his ACL in a 2-2 Premier League draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium back in September last year, and it is fair to say that the Citizens have dearly missed the presence of their star midfielder.
Pep Guardiola confirmed shortly after that Rodri would miss the rest of the 2024-25 campaign, but the midfielder then expressed in November his desire to return to first-team action before the end of the season.
Rodri is still some way away from making a full recovery and it has previously been suggested that he will target a return to Man City for when they compete at this summer's newly-formed FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
Nevertheless, Rodri has retained his place in Man City's 22-man List A squad for the Champions League, which was initially submitted before the start of this season's League Phase and has since been updated for the knockout rounds.
The deadline for updated List A squads passed on Thursday evening, with all clubs still competing in the competition allowed to register a maximum of three new eligible players after the completion of the League Phase and before the start of the playoff rounds.
Marmoush, Khusanov, Gonzalez included, Reis misses out
The three new players that City have added to their squad are winter-window signings Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Nico Gonzalez, but fellow new recruit Vitor Reis has been omitted.
Reis, who was bought by the Citizens last month for around £29m from Palmeiras, is yet to make his debut under Guardiola and the 19-year-old is now ineligible to represent the 2023 Champions League winners in this season's knockout rounds.
Khusanov and Marmoush, signings from Lens and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively, have made their debuts for Man City in the Premier League since joining and will now be chomping at the bit to represent the club in the Champions League, as will £50m midfielder Gonzalez, who was signed from Porto on deadline day.
All three players are therefore in contention to play for Man City when they face Champions League holders Real Madrid in a mouthwatering two-legged playoff - the first leg at the Etihad Stadium taking place next Tuesday before the return fixture at the Santiago Bernabeu on February 19.
Man City eventually scraped through to the playoffs after beating Club Brugge 3-1 in their final League Phase fixture just over a week ago to climb up to 22nd in the 36-team table, finishing with 11 points after winning three, drawing two and losing three of their eight matches.
In addition to the List A squad, Man City have registered Oscar Bobb, Max Alleyne, Rico Lewis, Nico O'Reilly on List B.
As confirmed on City's official website, all four players registered are "born on, or after, January 1, 2003 and have been eligible to play for the club for any uninterrupted period of two years since their 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA - or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year."
Any players who are aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption, while the deadline for List B submissions is 23:00 (UK) on the night preceding each game throughout the competition.
Man City's Champions League List A squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Ederson, Stefan Ortega, Scott Carson
Defenders: Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Abdukodir Khusanov, Josko Gvardiol
Midfielders: Nico Gonzalez, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, James McAtee, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Savinho
Forwards: Erling Haaland, Omar Marmoush
Man City's Champions League List B squad in full:
Oscar Bobb, Max Alleyne, Rico Lewis, Nico O'Reilly body check tags ::
