Reason why Manchester City striker Erling Haaland was substituted during Barcelona vs Man City pre-season friendly match draw (2-2)

Pep Guardiola has explained why he took Erling Haaland off at halftime during Manchester City’s recent preseason friendly loss to Barcelona on penalties.

Unfortunately, Haaland did not score to put City ahead in the first half. He received a great cross from Oscar Bobb that went over the line despite Inaki Pena’s best efforts.

The £375k-a-week man scored, but it wasn’t counted as a goal because there wasn’t any goal line technology present.

Once the 24-year-old tried to put the Sky Blues ahead, he didn’t say much during the first half.

But Pep Guardiola chose to switch things up and put Maximo Perrone on in his place.

Pep Guardiola says that Erling Haaland, a shooter for Man City, had “niggles” against Barcelona.
In the beginning, it looked like Guardiola had decided to rest the Norwegian player.

The two-time Premier League winner had started the Sky Blues’ matches against Celtic and AC Milan before this one.

Although it looked like the Catalan manager thought it was time for the former Borussia Dortmund striker to take a break, the plan was probably for him to play most of the game against Chelsea.

Pep Guardiola said that Haaland had hurt himself after Manchester City lost to Barcelona.

The City manager told reporter Sam Lee, “He had some niggles, he didn’t feel good, and that’s why he didn’t play the second half.”

Pep Guardiola made the right choice when he took Erling Haaland off the field.
Pep Guardiola did the right thing by taking Haaland off because he didn’t want him to make his injury worse.

The goal maker from Leeds needs to get in great shape quickly because the 2024–2025 season is coming up quickly.

Because Haaland missed a lot of the previous season, Guardiola would like to have him available for most of next season.

He recently told reporters that all of his City players will be going back to the club after their game against Ipswich Town.

This means that Haaland’s presence will be even more important than normal. He is one of the best and most important players on the team.