Why was Erling Haaland substituted for Manchester City? Injury or tactics?

The record-breaking striker was taken off ahead of extra-time in the Champions League clash against Real Madrid.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland was substituted at the end of normal time in his team’s Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

With the scores level at 1-1 (4-4 on aggregate) the two teams headed into extra-time to find which of the recent European champions would make it to the semi-finals, where they will face Bayern Munich.

There did not appear to be any injury to Erling Haaland. The big Norwegian had struggled to impact the game at the Etihad Stadium and his removal seems to have been a tactical decision from Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City went into the game as narrow favourites after picking up a 3-3 draw in the away leg last week. The European champions return to the Etihad Stadium for the return fixture, a place where they boast an intimidating record.

Pep Guardiola opted not to start John Stones at the Etihad, instead selecting a back four of Kyle Walker, Josko Gvardiol, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake. Stones’ absence was a surprise for many ahead of kick-off but, as Guardiola said in a pre-game interview, he has a strong squad from which to choose.

Madrid and City have met in each of the past two seasons of the Champions League. In each campaign the winner of this heavyweight tie has ended up as European champions. The path to another victory is far from easy, with either Arsenal or Bayern Munich waiting in the semi-final, but vboth sides have shown that they have what it takes to go all the way.