Nathan Ake Star Netherlands Spain Scotland Norway Georgia Jordan Greece country UPS track as Nathan Ake Star Netherlands Spain Scotland Norway Georgia Jordan Greece

Norway explain Erling Haaland absence as Nathan Ake provides Man City with fresh injury concern

manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Erling Haaland was simply rested for Norway in Thursday's win over Jordan ahead of a more important game next week, but Manchester City may be concerned over the nature of Nathan Ake's half-time substitution during the Netherlands' win against Greece.

Haaland has scored six goals so far for City this season to add to his 52 last term, and has gone to international duty to try and help Norway improve their qualifying position for Euro 2024 next summer.

Norway are third behind Scotland and Georgia in Group A, ahead of Spain by a point but have played two more games than the Spaniards.

Qualification for the top two spots may be difficult, so a home victory over second-placed Georgia is essential on Tuesday. For that reason, Norway boss Stale Solbakken was never likely to risk Haaland in their friendly contest with Jordan on Thursday, citing Haaland's workload for City as a good reason to give him an extra few days of rest before their crucial qualifier. ALSO READ: Champions League draw gives City's academy a useful boost Explaining his team selection before the comfortable 6-0 win, Solbakken said: "It is about a conversation with him that I have had on the same level as the 13-14 others who are eligible to start. "They [City] started the pre-season 14 days later than everyone else because of the Champions League.

Related News
MANCHESTER: Holders Manchester City recovered from falling a goal behind to outclass Red Star Belgrade 3-1 in their Group G opener with Julian Alvarez scoring twice at The Etihad on Tuesday (Sep 19).
Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring his team third goal during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in London on February 15, 2023. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. NO USE WITH UNAUTHORIZED AUDIO, VIDEO, DATA, FIXTURE LISTS, CLUB/LEAGUE LOGOS OR ‘LIVE’ SERVICES. ONLINE IN-MATCH USE LIMITED TO 120 IMAGES. AN ADDITIONAL 40 IMAGES MAY BE USED IN EXTRA TIME. NO VIDEO EMULATION. SOCIAL MEDIA IN-MATCH USE LIMITED TO 120 IMAGES. AN ADDITIONAL 40 IMAGES MAY BE USED IN EXTRA TIME. NO USE IN BETTING PUBLICATIONS, GAMES OR SINGLE CLUB/LEAGUE/PLAYER PUBLICATIONS. – RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. /
Julian Alvarez was Manchester City’s second-highest goalscorer across all competitions last season, behind Erling Haaland
As Pep Guardiola gears up to return from his period of rest following his back surgery, he will have been pleased with how the international break panned out for his Manchester City squad.
The message from Pep Guardiola to his Manchester City players last week was simple: please don't get injured.

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.