De Bruyne and Haaland asking to be subbed due to tiredness left me SHOCKED
Chris Sutton admitted he was left shocked by Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland asking to be substituted against Real Madrid because they were tired.
Man City were knocked out of the Champions League by the Spanish giants on penalties on Wednesday after their quarter-final tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.
It means there will be no Double Treble for City, who were hoping to go back-to-back in the competition having finally won it for a first time last season.
De Bruyne and Haaland were both withdrawn as the game drew to a close, with Julian Alvarez replacing the Norwegian ahead of extra-time, while Mateo Kovacic came on for De Bruyne after 112 minutes.
Speaking post-game, Pep Guardiola revealed they were enforced withdraws as he said: 'Erling and Kevin asked me to go out. They could not continue.
'They were playing amazing; I'm not a big fan of so many substitutions but Kevin, Erling and Manu (Akanji) asked me to go out because they could not continue.'
And former Premier League winner Sutton, speaking on Mail Sport's It's All Kicking Off podcast alongside Ian Ladyman, couldn't quite believe Guardiola's comments.
'I've got to say, I'm really surprised if they did ask to come off,' he said. 'There are those out there who would say, well, De Bruyne and Haaland, had they stayed and taken a penalty then Manchester City would have stood a better chance of winning that shootout.
'Pep has to do what's best for his team. But I can't remember too many times in my career when players on my own team asked to come off.
'So I suppose if they are injured and not available for the weekend, that's something else. But on the face of it, I'm a little bit surprised about that.'
City's clash against Real was their 51st game of the season in all
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