Erling Haaland’s substitution during his side’s Champions League quarter-final exit to Real Madrid on Wednesday night has left his prospects of starting against Fulham on Saturday evening in some uncertainty.
The Manchester City striker was replaced by Julian Alvarez after the whistle marked the end of 90 minutes and the coming of extra time, with Kevin De Bruyne and Manuel Akanji later going off to make way for Mateo Kovacic and John Stones.
Referring to having withdrawn the players rather than an invitation to hit the clubs and dance their troubles away, Pep Guardiola explained: “Erling and Kevin asked me to go out. They could not continue."
Haaland ‘could not continue’ against Real Madrid and asked for substitution
“They were playing amazing; I'm not a big fan of so many substitutions but Kevin, Erling and Manu (Akanji) asked me to go out because they could not continue.”
If we take Guardiola at his word, rather than suggesting that he may have preferred that explanation to publicly coming out and admitting that Haaland had been almost entirely anonymous across 180 minutes of football against Real (would we ever be so cynical?), that would raise doubts about Haaland’s ability to lead the line for City again on Saturday teatime.
The centre-forward has sat out just two games for City all season other than when he was ruled out with a foot injury from mid-December-mid-January. Haaland has not looked the same since returning, though, with his goal tally considerably propped up by his five-goal heroics against Luton Town in the FA Cup.
The Norwegian still leads the Premier League top scorers’ list, but now shares the top of the podium with Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.
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