Erling Haaland substitution explained with three Man City fitness concerns
Erling Haaland asked to be taken out of Manchester City's Champions League game with Real Madrid before the start of extra time.
Haaland was surprisingly substituted after 90 minutes of the European quarter-final, with Julian Alvarez coming on to take his place for the final 30 minutes and penalty shootout that followed. Kevin De Bruyne and Manu Akanji were then taken off in the second period of extra time, with Mateo Kovacic and John Stones replacing them.
Haaland appeared to limp off the pitch and Pep Guardiola explained after the match that all three players had told him that they needed to be taken off. With an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea in under three days to prepare for, City must hope that the trio can recover in time to be available for that game.
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"Erling and Kevin asked me to go out. They could not continue, like Manu," said the manager. "They were playing amazing and I'm not a big fan of so many substitutions but Kevin, Erling and Manu asked me to go out because they could not continue.
"Now we rest, tomorrow we come back and on Friday we travel to London to play the game. We will see. Of course we will see how people will react and of course the recovery is easier when winning than losing but it is the semi-final of the FA Cup and we will try to compete as much as possible.
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