Manchester City supporters have slammed Pep Guardiola’s decision to substitute Erling Haaland in Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Guardiola pulled Haaland off at half-time at Signal Iduna Park before Riyad Mahez missed from the penalty spot in the stalemate.
City confirmed top spot in Group G with the result, with Borussia Dortmund runners-up. However, Guardiola’s side misfired on the night, taking just three shots on target despite having 73 per cent possession of the ball.
Haaland had a quiet night at his former club, but his early withdrawal raised eyebrows among the Man City fanbase. And plenty of unhappy fans took to social media after Bernardo Silva replaced the prolific Norwegian striker after the break.
One wrote: “Haaland off??? Wtf Pep?”
Another ranted: “Pep Guardiola subbing off Haaland at half-time is ridiculous… 0-0 in a Champions League game, and you take out your star who’s on a historical scoring run?!?”
A third questioned: “Haaland off? Did Pep hit his head on his way into the locker room at half-time?”
“There’s no way pep has hooked off Haaland at HT if he isn’t injured,” one more fan speculated.
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Well, it turns out Haaland wasn’t at 100 per cent for his Dortmund return, and Guardiola was simply conserving him for this weekend’s Premier League clash against Leicester City. After full-time, the Catalan coach confirmed Haaland was suffering from a bit of ‘fever’ and a ‘knock in his feet’ in the build-up.
City fans’ fury intensified as Mahrez missed the chance to fire them ahead from the spot after being brought down by a clumsy tackle from Emre Can. The Algerian’s blunder was City’s 25th penalty miss since Guardiola became manager, and Guardiola expressed his frustration. “We’ll see [if we change penalty taker]. We’ll see what happens,” he added.
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“Of course, it’s a problem. Since I’ve been here, we’ve missed 24, 25 penalties, most of them in the Champions League. So, it’s too much. I always admire the courage and responsibility to do it, but, of course, we miss a lot of penalties. It’s a problem; we missed in Copenhagen, here as well. So, we have to improve. The littlest of margins is the difference in this competition.”
Haaland will hope to be in prime condition in time to face Leicester at the week amid his dominant start to life in the Premier League. And after Guardiola mentioned the small margins that make the difference in the Champions League, Haaland’s presence could be exactly that for the Blues this season.
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