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Jamie Carragher isn't convinced that Erling Haaland started Manchester City's crunch Champions League tie with Real Madrid on the bench due to injury.

The Norway striker, 24, was a doubt heading into Wednesday night's play-off fixture at the Bernabeu after coming off in City's big 4-0 win over Newcastle at the weekend.

City knew that only another statement win would do in Madrid after falling to a late 3-2 defeat at The Etihad last week.



But a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick sent the Premier League champions crashing out of Europe's premier knockout competition, with Haaland an unused substitute.

Guillem Balague explained on CBS Sports that Haaland had told Pep Guardiola he wasn't fit enough to start the huge match on Wednesday morning after jarring his knee.

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Jamie Carragher had his own theory on why Erling Haaland didn't play against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

A superb hat-trick from Mbappe put the tie beyond them, as Real Madrid romped to a 6-3 win on aggregate to advance to the Last 16.

Despite a disappointing defeat on the night, Pep Guardiola insisted he had no complaints with City's early exit from Europe post-match, telling TNT Sports: "After we conceded the goal in the first action we didn't defend well, it was more and more difficult.

We didn't deserve it, it's the first year we didn't make a good Champions League season.

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