Erling Haaland appeared to ask to come off during Manchester City’s game against Everton.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland scored once again to extend his incredible scoring run against Everton but it appears the red-hot Norwegian has one eye on Real Madrid after surprising Pep Guardiola during their win at Goodison Park. The 22-year-old left his manager feeling bemused on the touchline when he jogged over and appeared to ask to be substituted during the second half of the game.
Noticing that Guardiola was making changes on the touchline with Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva being prepared, Haaland made his way over for a quick chat with the Catalan boss.
And it was there where he appeared to instruct his manager to give him a breather by resting him for the final 15 minutes of the game. Guardiola initially looked taken aback before nodding along in agreement and quickly changed his plans, bringing off Gundogan and Haaland with Grealish and Silva replacing them.
It is unclear whether Haaland was struggling with an injury, but only moments before the striker was denied what appeared to be a clear penalty after he was shoved from Jordan Pickford inside the box.
Erling Haaland chats with Pep Guardiola before coming off (Image: Twitter/ESPN Vivo)
And not getting the decision from the referee may have been the final straw for Haaland as he took up his place on the bench.
City strolled to a 3-0 win on Merseyside with Ilkay Gundogan taking centre stage again, grabbing two goals and an assist as he set up Haaland for his 36th Premier League goal of the season.
Guardiola’s men took one more giant step towards the title as they moved four points clear of Arsenal with three games remaining, with the Gunners still to play.
And their attention will now turn to their clash with Real Madrid next week, although Haaland was clearly ahead of the game in that respect.
Erling Haaland now has 36 goals in the Premier League (Image: Getty)
It makes perfect sense for Haaland to want to keep himself fresh for the crunch clash at the Etihad on Wednesday rather than try and further improve his record-breaking tally in the league, and highlights the impressive awareness of protecting his own fitness.
City may have the slight edge going into the clash after taking a 1-1 draw away from the Santiago Bernabeu last week, with Kevin de Bruyne cancelling out Vinicius Junior’s strike.
Haaland had a quiet evening in the Spanish capital as he was marshaled by Antonio Rudiger. But keeping himself fit and fresh for the clash, he will be eager to add to his incredible haul of 52 goals in all competitions, with 12 in the Champions League alone.
Source: express.co.uk
