“Pep’s dark arts; Liverpool in trouble” – Fans react as Manchester City’s Erling Haaland pulls out of international friendlies due to injury
The Norwegian will hope to be fit for City's clash against Liverpool.
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Erling Haaland was sent back to Manchester City after being deemed to have a groin injury, according to Norwegian medical professionals. He has been on a great run of form recently, scoring eight goals in his last two games.
“Erling Braut Haaland had some pain in his groin after the match against Burnley,” a statement read. “We hoped that this was just a familiarity that would carry over to Saturday, but after doing tests and examinations yesterday it became clear that he will not make it to the games against Spain and Georgia. It is better that he receives medical follow-up at the club,” says national team doctor Ola Sand. “Haaland thus travels home from the national team meeting.”
Before joining City, Haaland had a problematic injury history, and fans will be concerned about the same. He was injured eight times between May 2020 and March 2022, missing 28 games across all competitions. Haaland’s previous groin injury caused him to miss six games over 42 days between January and March 2022.
However, during his time in England, the striker has been relatively fortunate, missing only two games due to a foot injury before the World Cup in late 2022. There has been no formal diagnosis of Haaland’s latest injury, so how long he will be out is unknown.
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Is Erling Haaland’s injury an indicator of a larger problem?
Haaland’s injury means he is the second star player from Manchester to pull out of international duty due to injury. Manchester United winger Marcus Rashford recently withdrew due to a knock he suffered against Fulham. Chelsea’s Mason Mount and Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez will also be unavailable for their countries due to injuries. The schedule in England has been ruthless this season due to the winter World Cup and The Queen’s death.
FIFA is set to introduce new Club World Cup and FIFA World Cup formats. There is also the latest annual ‘FIFA Club Match’ and the ‘FIFA World Series.’ All these additions will increase the players’ workload and increase the risk of injuries.
It is a worrying scenario from the player’s point of view, who are already at breaking point due to the fixture pile-up caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. FIFPro, the players’ welfare association, has not taken action yet. FIFA’s recent meeting in Rwanda – where they “elected” Gianni Infantino for another term – discussed the creation of a new player welfare body. It is reportedly being done to ‘explore issues linked to the new calendar.’
However, the move seems contradictory. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, there is already an existing player welfare body – FIFPro. Secondly, the FIFA Council approved the expansion of the 2026 World Cup in the same meeting. The original plan was to expand the number of games from 64 to 80. However, this has now been changed to 104. Some action must be taken to curtail the constant increase of matches, or the game will be in big trouble.
Twitter reacts to Haaland injury
Manchester City host Liverpool on April 1 before travelling to the St. Mary’s Stadium to face Southampton. The Cityzens play the first leg of their much-awaited clash against Bayern on April 11, with the second leg taking place eight days later.
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