Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola confirmed that Erling Haaland is “not comfortable” after he was substituted during a pre-season friendly against FC Barcelona which ended 2-2 in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday.
Ever since joining City from Borussia Dortmund in July 2022, Haaland has netted 90 goals in just 98 matches and helped the club win the Premier League twice and their first-ever Champions League as well.
He did not have a great outing against Barcelona in the friendly as he only had 11 touches of the ball with four passes before he was substituted at half time.
He was also taken off the half-time during the friendly against AC Milan, where he scored after 19 minutes, at half time.
Guardiola admitted that he is looking at Haaland’s fitness closely as the Community Shield match against Manchester United is set to be played on August 10 at Wembley Stadium.
“Erling is not comfortable,” Guardiola said after the 2-2 stalemate, which Barcelona won via a penalty shootout via Sky Sports. “We don’t want to take risks. But sooner or later he has to take a step with training and minutes.
“The season is there, around the corner. He has niggles, muscular, we don’t want to take a risk and lose him for three weeks or a month. That would be a problem.”
Man City will now play their last friendly of the season with Chelsea in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday before the new Premier League season begins.
After the match against Barcelona, Guardiola praised the newly-appointed Barcelona coach Hansi Flick saying that he liked how the Catalan club played.
"I really liked the team," said Guardiola after the match. "The seasons are long and the pre-seasons are very special, the competition is something else, but they have done a lot of things well."
The three-time Champions League winner confessed that his men "suffered a lot when they had the ball" and stressed that Barca's players performed admirably considering the short time they have had to learn former Bayern Munich boss Flick's concepts while "the positional play of his team is extraordinary".
