Erling Haaland will not feature for Norway against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday night.
The Manchester City striker has been nursing a foot injury since the end of October and missed a number of games for his club.
Norway have opted not to play their star man in Dublin, but have left the door open to him featuring against Finland this weekend.
READ MORE: Erling Haaland OUT of Norway squad to face Ireland in international friendly
Norway manager Stale Solbakken confirmed earlier this week that the decision was made in collaboration with City.
He explained: "Erling has had a few troubled weeks (with injury). We have been in dialogue with Manchester City until the end.
"Based on the overall situation, the conclusion was that he is better trying to make it for the second match against Finland at home on Sunday.
"Everyone has seen how it has been lately for Erling. City have not used him unless they absolutely had to. He played the last 25 minutes against Fulham, nothing against Copenhagen and Sevilla. He's still not quite there."
But the Norway boss has challenged his pool of strikers to plug the gap left by the injured Haaland to prove they can do a job if he is missing for a Euro 2024 qualifier.
He said: “I don’t tell any other players that they should go in and play exactly the same as Erling.
“In the last qualification campaign, I think he only played four or five out of those 10 games. Now he has been very stable with us and played all the games this year, so we hope that will continue into the next qualification.
“But we must also be prepared that he can get injured and that we have to play without him and also (Alexander) Sorloth is out…
“That can happen in a qualification game, so we need to make sure that we have players that can go into the roles, but play it in their own way and not rely on what Erling does or doesn’t do there.”
Asked about Haaland’s chances of playing at the weekend, Solbakken added: “There’s still a hope of that.
“Obviously he has struggled in the last three weeks at Manchester City with some small things that have kept him out for some games and kept him on the bench for some games.
“He played 90 minutes on Saturday, so we were prepared that there could be a reaction from that.
“Maybe they felt he should play less, but obviously the game did not go as they expected, so it’s not a big thing. That’s why we have hope. He will probably come to Oslo on Friday.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Kenny has warned the Republic of Ireland not to be taken in by the absence of Norway's dangerman.
Asked if his game-plan had changed as a result of Haaland’s misfortune, he said: “I don’t think it changes that much.
“Norway have a lot of players playing at a good level, they are all good players. The highest profile is their captain, Martin Odegaard, who is an exceptional player, for sure.
“They have players in LaLiga and other top leagues, so they have shown themselves to be a good team.”
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