Menu
Erling Haaland scored Manchester City’s Premier League winning goal against Fulham on Saturday, but he is still not fully recovered from the foot injury he sustained last month and Pep Guardiola has provided an update.
Erling Haaland’s ligament issue has been confirmed by Pep Guardiola, and he is questionable for Manchester City’s remaining matches before the World Cup.
Haaland, 22, was forced to miss the matches against Sevilla and Leicester after sustaining a foot injury in the goalless draw with his previous team, Borussia Dortmund, in October.
On Saturday at the Etihad, he came off the bench to score the game-winning goal against Fulham.
Guardiola claims that despite the fact that Haaland participated in City’s most recent match, the Norwegian is still dealing with a foot issue and will need to pass a fitness test before matches against Chelsea in the EFL Cup on Wednesday and Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday.
Guardiola said to reporters on Tuesday, “He’s not perfect, and it [the injury] is still not ideal. We’ll see if he’s available tomorrow or the following Saturday, but he’s improving.
It’s critical that the bone be unbroken and unharmed. It’s currently imperfect because there is just a minor ligament injury. But anything might occur in a week or ten days. It is flexible.”
With 18 goals in just 12 Premier League games this season, Haaland is the driving force behind City’s ambitions. Two points behind league leaders Arsenal, Guardiola’s team is currently second in the standings.
In the Champions League, they have advanced to the round of 16, where they will play RB Leipzig.
The EFL Cup is Haaland’s first chance to take home a significant trophy in England, so he will be eager to play against Chelsea at the Etihad on Wednesday.
Prior to Liverpool’s victory over Chelsea in the competition’s final last season, City had won it four straight times.
Since Norway won’t be competing in this year’s World Cup, Haaland will have more time to heal completely before the season’s second half.
Despite this, Norway still has two friendly matches later this month against Finland and the Republic of Ireland.
Haaland has been advised by Guardiola that playing in both games is fine as long as he’s healthy.
“If he’s excellent, he’ll play for the national team,” he declared. “It’s quite crucial for the players. When a player is healthy enough to play for the national team, I never block them.”
Regarding City’s Champions League draw, Guardiola was also questioned. City has only faced Leipzig twice in the Champions League.
In September 2021, they defeated them 6-3 at the Etihad but fell to them 2-1 in Germany two months later. Guardiola isn’t taking anything for granted as a result.
