Stale Solbakken had his line ready. Erling Haaland had been down for 60-odd minutes before a ball was kicked, the Norway manager said, and the 67th-minute withdrawal that will dominate the English back pages was nothing to lose sleep over.
The pictures suggested otherwise. Haaland threw an arm up at the bench after a shot drifted wide, pulled a face, and walked towards the touchline carrying his right leg. He was replaced by Jorgen Strand Larsen, hugged the Crystal Palace forward on the way off, and sat down. Portugal, trailing to a Kristoffer Ajer volley on 36 minutes, had already pulled level through Joao Cancelo two minutes later. Goncalo Ramos settled it from close range in the 79th, a 2-1 win over Norway at the Estadio do Dragao.
‘He could not contribute more than 60-odd minutes’
Solbakken was explicit afterwards.
“We agreed that Haaland would play, but that he could not contribute more than 60-odd minutes,” the Norway coach told Portuguese broadcasters.
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He had reason to manage the load. Haaland arrived in Portugal having played four matches in 11 days for club and country, the kind of run Solbakken has openly described as “impossible working conditions” for his striker. The forward received no treatment on the bench after coming off, and photographers at the stadium saw no visible limp as the Norway squad left for a private flight home.
Why Manchester City are not relaxing
That is the Norway version. The Manchester City version is more cautious.
Enzo Maresca’s staff will put Haaland through a medical assessment before deciding whether he trains at full intensity this week, with the striker’s five Premier League goals already carrying the forward line through the opening months of the season. What City want is a clean scan; what they saw on television was a player signalling for a change rather than being ushered off on a schedule.
Haaland’s recent minutes have been heavy. Beyond the four-games-in-11-days stretch Solbakken referenced, two of those outings were full 90-minute shifts in Nations League group matches, with little recovery between international and Premier League windows.
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The two matches Maresca cannot afford to miss Haaland for
The timing is unforgiving. City travel to Anfield on Sunday 11 October, kick-off 4:30pm local time, for the first league meeting with Liverpool of the season. Three days after that, Paris Saint-Germain visit the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League on Wednesday 14 October, 8pm local time.
Those are the two fixtures Maresca cannot afford to send Haaland into at anything less than full fitness, and the two that would turn any muscular issue, however minor, into a selection headache. A striker who played a touch longer than his manager had planned, then walked off holding a leg, is not a result City wanted from an international break.
The club is expected to update on his status later this week.
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