Erling Haaland faces a late fitness test as Manchester City wait to see if he is available to face Liverpool on Sunday but Pep Guardiola has suffered another injury blow as he worries that John Stones could be out for two months.
City’s 27-goal top scorer missed the defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday with a knee injury he sustained in last week’s 4-0 win over Newcastle and Guardiola revealed he felt discomfort when trying to walk upstairs in Spain.
But he is hopeful Haaland may be able to train and could return to the line-up against Arne Slot’s league leaders at the Etihad Stadium. “Yeah, maybe,” Guardiola said. “We will train today. Tomorrow we will test.”
Even with Haaland almost ever-present this season, City are 17 points behind Liverpool and Guardiola said: “It is better to have Erling on the pitch, we don’t have it but with Erling we are in the position we are in now.”
Defender Stones went off after seven minutes in the Bernabeu following a collision with Kylian Mbappe and Guardiola is bracing himself for bad news as he waits to see if the England international will require an operation.
“He is injured,” he said. “It is a difficult one, [in the] next hours or days we will know if he needs surgery. Like Manuel Akanji.”
Akanji was ruled out for eight-to-10 weeks and Guardiola’s comments suggested he fears that Stones, who has a thigh problem, could be out until April, which would rule him out of Thomas Tuchel’s first games in charge of England.
But Guardiola said that Kevin de Bruyne was not injured when he was left an unused substitute at the Bernabeu. “That was my decision,” he said, adding that he still trusts the 33-year-old to play in the biggest games. “Of course, he plays against Madrid at home.”
Guardiola said he didn’t need to speak to the City captain to explain why he was left out.
He added: “My relationship with Kevin is exceptional. It was just a decision. They don't ask the reason why, never ever is it personal. Jeremy [Doku] didn't play. I take decisions and that's all.”
