Manchester City are waiting on the fitness of Erling Haaland after the forward came off during the Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.
Haaland played 90 minutes of the quarter-final on Wednesday night but did not appear in extra-time, with Julian Alvarez coming on in his place. Alvarez scored his penalty in the shootout, although it wasn’t enough as City were defeated 4-3.
City are preparing for an FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea on Saturday and while Guardiola is confident that Kevin De Bruyne feels much better after he too was substituted, the news is less positive on Haaland. The Blues will have to hope that a muscular injury has eased up in time for the Wembley trip.
“We will see. It was a tough game, 120 minutes,” he said. “A lot of action, high intensity from both sides.
“Erling felt something, a muscular issue and that’s why he said he could not continue, Kevin felt exhausted and after what happened with injured for five months, that is normal.
“The doctor said it was a little bit niggles [with Haaland] and we will see the evolution in the next hours. The amount of games we are playing this season and the previous season and not much recovery and extra time and high intensity and the way we played, put a lot of pressure on our game. They are human beings, not machines. Sometimes the fatigue is there.”
