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Pep Guardiola has revealed the worrying extent of Erling Haaland and the injury that kept him out of Champions League action on Wednesday night.

Manchester City’s turbulent 2024/25 campaign reached another boiling point on Wednesday as they crashed out of the Champions League in humiliating fashion, conceding a Kylian Mbappé hat-trick to lose 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu and 6-3 on aggregate.

The defeat marked City’s earliest European exit since the 2012/13 season and underscored systemic vulnerabilities that have plagued Pep Guardiola’s side all season.

The match laid bare the decline of a squad that had dominated English and European football for nearly a decade.

Erling Haaland’s absence loomed large, and it came as a surprise that he was not starting ahead of the game last night.

What did Pep Guardiola say about Erling Haaland?

Speaking after the game, Guardiola revealed that the Norwegian international has actually been struggling to use  stairs:

“Erling [Haaland], yesterday, tried to train,’ said Guardiola.

“Apparently from the images we’ve done he’s fine [after his injury against Newcastle], but he had discomfort walking, for example on stairs.”

“We spoke and he said, ‘I’m not ready?

I don’t feel good’, so that’s what happened.”

The situation worsened during the Madrid fixture as John Stones limped off in the eighth minute with a suspected knee ligament strain, compounding a season already marred by injury setbacks for the England international.

Stones has endured a fragmented campaign, missing 16 matches across all competitions due to multiple fitness setbacks

Pep Guardiola faces additional selection headaches with Rodri ruled out for the remainder of the season following knee surgery, while Manuel Akanji is expected to miss up to 10 weeks with an adductor muscle injury sustained in training.

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