Man City face unthinkable Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne decision they don't want to make

Manchester City needed to find a goal against 'Kings of Europe' Real Madrid on Wednesday night. So they took off Erling Haaland.

And in extra time with penalties looming, City took off goalscorer Kevin De Bruyne - one of their better spot kick takers.

Pep Guardiola revealed post-match that both players requested to come off, raising doubts over fitness concerns ahead of the FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea at the very least. Perhaps more alarming, though, both substitutions were arguably the right call to make.

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Haaland had again struggled to influence the game against Madrid. He was unfortunate to see a clever header come back off the post, but was largely kept out of danger by Antonio Rudiger for the second time in a week.

In City's four clashes with Madrid in the last two seasons, Haaland has played all four, playing 90 minutes in three and 89 in the other. He has no goals and no assists - which will encourage the lazy opinions over his overall contribution to City in big games.

In his last nine games for club and country, Haaland has just two goals, and only one from open play. He remains the joint top goalscorer in the Premier League and has topped 30 goals for the season, however he isn't as prolific as the high-standards he has set himself.

Any fan who actually watches City will recognise how Real deployed two centre-backs on him which freed up space for others. It worked a treat in Madrid last week, but with Real sitting deeper than they normally would at the Etihad, there was no space for anybody - even if City recorded more touches in