Pep Guardiola makes new Erling Haaland injury admission ahead of Liverpool fixture
Erling Haaland missed Manchester City's loss against Real Madrid on Wednesday with a knee injury and is touch and go for Sunday's Premier League game against Liverpool
by Felix Keith · The MirrorErling Haaland remains a doubt for Manchester City’s Premier League game against Liverpool on Sunday, with Pep Guardiola playing his cards close to his chest.
Haaland did not play a part in City’s 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday after injuring his knee in the 4-0 win over Newcastle on the weekend. The City striker was named as a substitute but did not even warm up and was forced to watch as his team were knocked out of the Champions League 6-3 on aggregate.
Guardiola played Omar Marmoush up front by himself at the Bernabeu and is hoping to have Haaland fit enough to feature against Liverpool. City host the Premier League leaders at 4.30pm on Sunday and Guardiola says it will be touch and go whether Haaland is involved.
“Tomorrow I will know it, I don’t know yet,” he said in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon. Asked if he was hopeful, Guardiola replied: “Yeah, maybe but I don’t know yet. We train today, tomorrow he will test but I don’t know.
“It is better to have Erling on the pitch than not have him, obviously. But with Erling we are in the position that we are right now. Everybody is responsible for good and bad things in the team. But of course, with Erling we are stronger.”
Haaland has contributed 27 goals in 35 games for City across all competitions this season, despite the team’s struggles. They sit fourth in the Premier League going into the weekend’s fixtures, 17 points adrift of their opponents Liverpool, with Wednesday bringing their 13th defeat in all competitions this season – the most Guardiola has ever suffered during his entire managerial career.
Things will be even more difficult against Liverpool after John Stones was forced off with an injury in the first half against Real. Guardiola revealed that the England defender may need to undergo surgery on the injury.
“He’s injured, a difficult one,” Guardiola said. “[In the] next hours, days, we’ll know if he needs surgery or not. Yeah [he faces a long period out], like Manu Akanji.” Stones and Akanji are on the injury list along with Rodri, who is out for the season with an ACL injury, and Oscar Bobb, who is still recovering from an injury.
Despite the injury problems, Guardiola is maintaining a positive outlook. “We can compete with any team,” he said. “We have two central defenders out for two to three months. The Premier League is massively important for us. In the Premier League we have played really good games.
"We are not stable but in other games such as against Newcastle, we have been at a high level. We will try to play a good game and the points that we need to stay up there to qualify [for the Champions League] next season."
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