Pep Guardiola has explained that Erling Haaland was left out of the Manchester City squad to face Liverpool after coming up sore after training on match eve.
Guardiola had hoped to be able to bring his star striker back in after the Norwegian missed the midweek defeat to Real Madrid.
Haaland suffered a injury to his right knee late on in last weekend’s Premier League thrashing of Newcastle, and while the issue appears relatively minor, he did not come through training successfully to be deemed fit enough to return.
"Yesterday after training he didn't feel good,” Guardiola explained to Sky Sports ahead of kick off at the Etihad Stadium.
"During these nine years we played many seasons without really important players and we survived. This season, we have had a lot of injuries and we could not survive, but in specific games we have to do it."
Rodri remains absent for Manchester City, while John Stones also faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering an injury against Real Madrid.
Fellow defender Manuel Akanji is also absent for the time being, forcing Guardiola to pair youngsters Rico Lewis and Abdukodir Khusanov to try and combat Mohamed Salah’s threat for the league leaders.
