Erling Haaland missed Manchester City’s FA Cup win over Newcastle United on Saturday night, but Pep Guardiola played down any suggestion that the striker is a doubt for the Champions League trip to Real Madrid on Wednesday.
The striker didn’t travel to St James’ Park having missed the Premier League win over Leeds United last weekend. He did feature against Nottingham Forest in midweek but the decision was taken not to risk him in the north east.
Guardiola said he always planned to rest Haaland for the cup clash and the Norwegian is being managed ahead of a gruelling few weeks that also includes the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley later this month. Here’s the City injury latest.
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Haaland was left out of City’s squad for the cup tie at Newcastle but Guardiola insisted the striker was never likely to feature as the Blues manage his minutes.
“I was not planning to play him,” Guardiola said (via Manchester Evening News.
“I would prefer [him to have] good training sessions than to travel and play just 10-15 minutes.”
