Erling Haaland’s shock absence explained

Manchester City face an uphill task as they look to get past Real Madrid in the Champions League playoff round. Not only do they need to beat Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, they are without their talisman from the start.

Erling Haaland was named on the bench by Pep Guardiola, a major blow for City as they look to make history. The Norwegian has smashed the scoring records since joining City two and a half years ago and fired them to back-to-back Premier League titles.

He is available to call upon form the bench but January addition Omar Marmoush starts in his place in Madrid.

Why isn’t Erling Haaland playing for Manchester City?

Haaland’s absence is not a bizarre tactical tweak from Guardiola. The City No. 9 suffered was substituted in last weekend’s win over Newcastle United after picking up a knee injury.

Guardiola had suggested that Haaland was in line to start but his progress looks to have been slower than hoped.

“Yes, they travelled. We will see tomorrow but it’s good news they are here obviously,“ Guardiola said, when asked about the status of Haaland and Jack Grealish. Neither start for City.

“Jack was able to play a really good game in the [at Leyton Orient] but after he doesn’t have the consistency to play three games a week, he was not able to do it. Hopefully, now he is able for the last few months of the season he can get it.”