Rodri played the last 30 minutes of victory over Wydad AC, while Stones watched from the sidelines.
“He’s getting better,” Guardiola said of Rodri.
“We can’t forget, it’s almost nine months since the sad day what happened. It’s an injury between 10 and 12 months. It’s a long injury.
“He’s getting better and if he can play 20 to 30 minutes it’ll be good. I know he wants to be there but we need to protect him and him feel good in his knee.
“The minutes he played last game help and hopefully tomorrow too. Hopefully one day soon he can play from the beginning.”
I want John to stay
On Stones, who like Rodri missed much of last season, the manager also said: “Only what we want from John is to be fit and make his lovely job of playing football consistently in a different way to how it happened especially last season.
“The rest, his talent and ability, he will do it. We will help him and I’m pretty sure he’ll do the rest.
“We’ve been together almost a decade, since I arrived he arrived, the many good and sad things we shared, he’s a sensitive person and an incredible human being.
“I see him suffer when he can’t be involved, it’s so sad but important now is at training sessions, he feels better and then the game is another issue.
“It’s another rhythm and demanding but as much as he arrived a few days in Manchester and now here he trained almost all the session s with us and feels good.
“This is what we want of him.”