Erling Haaland's fitness will be assessed following Manchester City's final training session ahead of Saturday's meeting with Fulham, Pep Guardiola has revealed.
Haaland sat out last week's 1-0 Premier League win at Leicester City, as well as Wednesday's 3-1 Champions League triumph over Sevilla, after suffering a foot injury.
The Norwegian has scored 17 goals in his first 11 Premier League appearances, and while Guardiola is keen to see him return, City will wait before making a final decision on his involvement.
"He's much better. We will decide today," Guardiola said on Friday. "It's a good step, he starts to train, and we have training this afternoon and we will see.
"It all depends on himself, his opinion and the doctors' opinion. It could be 90 minutes or less, we will see after training."
City will be boosted by the presence of another former Borussia Dortmund player next time out, with Manuel Akanji fit to feature after limping out of last week's win at the King Power Stadium.
However, while Guardiola is set to shuffle his pack ahead of the World Cup break. City are still without England duo Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker, who are both battling to be fit to make the trip to Qatar.
"Manu is okay, Kalvin and Kyle are still not fit," Guardiola added. "Some players who didn't play [against Sevilla] will play.
"I have many players, I have to use them. I demand the best of them, and this will always happen in the future."
The scheduling of a mid-season World Cup has attracted renewed criticism in recent days after several big-name players – including Tottenham's Son Heung-min and Manchester United's Raphael Varane – saw their hopes of playing in Qatar thrown into doubt by injuries.
However, with just over two weeks to go until the tournament begins, Guardiola does not believe the spectre of the World Cup is causing his players to play with caution.
"I'll be honest with you, seeing the way our players behave, how they run, how they compete in duels, I'm not concerned at all about what is going to happen in these six or seven days," he added.
"Next Saturday, we will start the World Cup preparations, and holidays for the rest of the players. From what I saw, so far, everyone is committed to what we have to do."
I saw only one team – Rodri bemoans Real Madrid’s tactics after City’s Euro exit
Rodri claims he “saw only one team” trying to win as he bemoaned Real Madrid’s tactics following Manchester City’s heartbreaking Champions League quarter-final loss.
City’s European title defence ended in agonising fashion at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday as the Spanish giants prevailed 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw on the night meant the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.
It was a clash the holders completely dominated, racking up 33 attempts on goal to the visitors’ eight, but Real defended deep to frustrate them and ultimately ended their hopes of a second successive treble.
City midfielder Rodri said: “To be honest, I saw only one team. In terms of defending, they defended (well). They knew how to suffer and we know how tough Real Madrid are.
“But in my opinion we should go through with that amount of chances but this is the trick of this competition. They know how to play it. We congratulate them.
“We gave everything, there is nothing to regret. This is football sometimes. This shows how difficult it is to win it, as we did last season. It was very frustrating and sometimes it is difficult to explain.”
City’s exit from the competition they won with a Rodri goal in Istanbul last year, coupled with Arsenal’s loss to Bayern Munich, means there are no English semi-finalists for the first time since 2020.
City had to chase the tie after Rodrgyo pounced to put Real ahead after 12 minutes.
They created a plethora of chances in a storming response, with Erling Haaland going the closest in the first half when he headed against the bar.
Further opportunities came and went after the break and it was not until the 76th minute that Kevin De Bruyne finally broke through to net a deserved equaliser.
But De Bruyne spurned a good chance to win it when he fired over soon after and, with extra-time failing to separate the sides, it came down to spot-kicks.
Ederson saved from Luka Modric but Bernardo Silva’s attempted Panenka was too easy for Andriy Lunin, who also denied Mateo Kovavic as Real went through.
The Premier League leaders now have little time to pick themselves up before heading to Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea on Saturday.
Rodri said: “We will have to digest the loss but we will have to wake up, stand up. We still have two more competitions to play for.
“We need the mentality (to be) positive, to find any ambition that right now is difficult to find. Tomorrow we will find it and go against Chelsea, try to be in another final and fight for the Premier League.”
City will need to assess key pair Haaland and De Bruyne who, along with Manuel Akanji, were substituted before the penalty shoot-out.
Haaland was removed at the end of the regulation 90 minutes with the influential De Bruyne leaving the action in the second period of extra-time.
Manager Pep Guardiola said: “Erling and Kevin asked me to go out – they could not continue, like Manu. The game we were playing, they were amazing, but they could not continue.”
Q&A – How Man City and Arsenal exits could impact Premier League’s European race
The prospect of five English clubs competing in next season’s Champions League is hanging by a thread after Manchester City and Arsenal were knocked out of the continent’s premier club competition on Wednesday night.
Here, the PA news agency explains the situation.
Why is there an extra place?
From this season, the two countries who collectively perform best in this season’s men’s European club competitions will each gain a European Performance Spot (EPS) for one of their clubs in the following season’s Champions League, which will feature a 36-team league phase from 2024-25 replacing the familiar eight groups of four.
For each of the best-performing countries, the EPS goes to the highest-finishing club in those countries who have not already qualified for the Champions League via their domestic performance. In England’s case, that would be the team finishing fifth – currently Tottenham.
How do the rankings look at the moment?
The rankings – known as the association club coefficient – are led this season by Italy. Germany were already ahead of England in the race for the second spot heading into the quarter-final second legs, but the exits of City and Arsenal – coupled with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund making progress – have widened the gap.
Last Friday – after the Europa League and Conference League first legs had been played – Germany had 16.785 points compared to England’s 16.750, a gap of 0.035. On Thursday morning the gap had grown to 0.767, with Germany on 17.642 and England on 16.875.
How are the points worked out?
Teams gain points for wins (two) and draws (one) from the start of the group phase in all three of UEFA’s men’s club competitions. Teams also earn points for participation in the Champions League group phase and for making progress beyond certain rounds in all three competitions.
The association coefficient is calculated by working out an average score – dividing the total number of points the clubs win by the number of clubs representing that country in Europe. So in England’s case any points won by the Premier League representatives are divided by eight.
Can England still do it?
In theory yes. West Ham and Liverpool could still meet in the Europa League final if they can overturn first-leg deficits to Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta respectively on Thursday night, and Aston Villa could still go all the way in the Conference League. That, coupled with the remaining German teams stumbling, means there is still very slim hope.
But Germany certainly have the edge and could even end up with six teams in next season’s Champions League. If Dortmund finish fifth in the Bundesliga but win the Champions League, it would be the second of those achievements which would secure them their Champions League place for 2024-25. The EPS would then be awarded to whoever finishes sixth – currently Eintracht Frankfurt.
‘No regrets’ says Pep Guardiola after Manchester City loss in Champions League
Pep Guardiola insisted there were no regrets after Manchester City’s bid to retain their Champions League crown ended in a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss to Real Madrid.
The holders were beaten 4-3 on spot-kicks by the Spanish giants after their quarter-final tie ended 4-4 on aggregate – 1-1 on the night – despite a dominant display from Guardiola’s side in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium.
City fell behind early to a Rodrygo goal but created a host of chances as they sought to regain control of the tie but Kevin De Bruyne’s 76th-minute equaliser was their only reward.
City manager Guardiola said: “I would have preferred to win but congratulations to Real Madrid, they defended so deep with incredible solidarity and we did everything.
“I don’t have any regrets about what we have done. Always we try to create more chances and concede less, because we believe that helps you to win and we did everything.
“We played exceptionally in all departments and unfortunately we could not win.”
Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic both missed in the shoot-out, with the former’s effort proving a particularly comfortable save for Andriy Lunin.
Guardiola refused to blame the Portuguese for his failure to register.
He said: “Bernardo asked to take it, he’s a reliable player and decided to shoot in that way. What a game he had played. It happens.”
Guardiola also had no complaints about Real’s tactics, with the Spanish side forced to sit back and defend deep for much of the game.
“I don’t judge,” he said. “I’m not here to do this. It’s football. In this competition, that’s the way football happens.”
City’s loss also ended their hopes of winning a second successive treble and they must now pick themselves up for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley.
Guardiola said: “Now we will rest and on Friday we travel to London to play the game.
“We will see how people will react. Of course the recovery is easier when winning, rather than losing, but it is the semi-final of the FA Cup and we will try to compete as much as possible.”
Real manager Carlo Ancelotti admitted the strength of City had forced them to soak up pressure and look to take the tie on penalties.
The veteran Italian said: “We defended really, really well. This was about survival. Madrid is a club based on always fighting to stay in situations where there seems to be no way out – but we always find a way.
“By the time the penalty shoot-out came, we were totally convinced we’d go through.
“This is about the only way you can come to City and win. You work, sacrifice and win however you can.”
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