Erling Haaland was substituted at half-time in the friendly between Manchester City and Barcelona, which ended in a 2-2 draw and a penalty shootout won 4-1 by Barcelona. A forced change and it is inevitably a hard blow for the Norwegian, who saw himself breaking everything this season.
Pep Guardiola is concerned about his star striker who suffered a muscle injury just days before the start of the new season. “Erling is not comfortable. We don’t want to take any risks. The start of the season is close. He has some muscle problems, we don’t want to take any risks and lose him for three weeks or a month. That would be a problem.”
Guardiola concerned about Haaland
“He didn’t feel well and that’s why he didn’t play the second half, added the Catalan technician.
Sixty-seven percent of the squad is on vacation. That’s why we need the players. At the same time, we have alternatives.”
Haaland was already substituted at half-time against AC Milan with a similar problem. In just over a week, City will play the Community Shield against their biggest rivals Manchester United before beginning their Premier League title defence at Chelsea. Without Haaland, those games will be difficult, especially since Julian Alvarez has said he wants to leave the club this summer.
