- Haaland was an unused substitute against Real Madrid on Wednesday night
- The striker suffered an injury in Manchester City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle
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Erling Haaland ‘had discomfort walking’ ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League clash against Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola has revealed.
The Norwegian was an unused substitute on Wednesday night as the Premier League champions were dumped out of Europe following a 6-3 aggregate defeat.
City came into the second leg trailing the Spanish giants by a single goal thanks, in part, to Haaland’s brace in the first match-up. But the forward’s participation in the return game was cast into doubt after he picked up an injury in the weekend win over Newcastle.
Guardiola was optimistic about Haaland playing some part in the match at the Bernabeu, leaving many stunned by his absence from the starting XI and then the match entirely.
The City boss has since revealed that the 24-year-old informed him that he was not ready to play and experienced discomfort walking on stairs.
‘Erling [Haaland], yesterday, tried to train,’ said Guardiola. ‘Apparently from the images we’ve done he’s fine [after his injury against Newcastle], but he had discomfort walking, for example on stairs.
Erling Haaland was an unused substitute as Manchester City were dumped out of the Champions League
The 24-year-old striker picked up an injury in City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle last weekend
Pep Guardiola has revealed that Haaland felt discomfort while walking up stairs ahead of the match
‘We spoke and he said, “I’m not ready. I don’t feel good”, so that’s what happened.’
The club now face an anxious wait to see if he will be fit for the Premier League clash against Liverpool on Sunday.
City could also be without John Stones for the weekend clash at the Etihad after the England defender was forced off in the eighth minute against Madrid. Stones has already missed 16 games this season due to various issues.
For the match against the league leaders, Guardiola will also be missing Rodri – who is expected to be sidelined for the rest of the campaign – and Manuel Akanji, who could miss up to 10 weeks with an abductor issue.
Oscar Bobb is also unavailable, as the Norwegian forward continues to recover from fracturing a bone in his leg during a training session prior to the start of the season.
