Pep Guardiola confirms Erling Haaland absence for Champions League game but has positive injury upda
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Erling Haaland will miss the club's final Champions League group stage clash on Wednesday.
But Guardiola did provide a positive injury update on the striker ahead of this weekend's match against Crystal Palace.
Haaland was absent for Sunday's 2-1 win away at Luton with a foot problem - the first Premier League fixture he has missed this season.
And speaking in his press conference on Tuesday, Guardiola conceded his minor knock has left him unable to travel to Serbia to take on Red Star Belgrade - live on talkSPORT 2.
Though in good news for City fans, Haaland will return to training later in the week but he may be a doubt to face the Eagles at the Etihad Stadium.
Asked whether the Norway international has trained since victory at Kenilworth Road, Guardiola said: "No.
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"He’ll be back I think Thursday. We’ll see how he feels.”
Giving his say on whether he will be available on Saturday, the former Barcelona manager added: "I don’t know [if he will play vs Palace] right now.
"Next press conference I could be more precise about his conditions."
As well as Haaland, winger Jeremy Doku will also play no part against Red Star as he is suffering from a muscular problem.
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Meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne is not yet ready to return to action with the Belgian still recovering from a hamstring knock he picked up against Burnley on the opening weekend of the top flight season.
Commenting on the City captain, Guardiola stated: "Of course I’d prefer if Kevin was with us.
"Of course we need him but you have to handle the situation with the players we have.
“I’ve said many times, when we have stable positions with players like last season, the cover with the players you mention.
"Of course, the word isn’t miss something but change something and you need time to adapt.
"But I have the feeling so far is good, we don’t drop too much. But we have standards.
"We lost one game in six or seven, so it’s a big disaster. The others we draw but perform really well.”
Red Star Belgrade v Man City: Betting
Match Odds:
Red Star Belgrade - 5/1
Draw - 10/3
Man City - 4/9
Featured Boost: Foden to score first, over 2.5 cards & Man City to win was 8/1 now 9/1
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*odds correct as of 11:00 13/12/23
See all Champions League Betting Odds here
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