Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola opened up about his decision to sub off Erling Haaland during their Champions League victory over Slovan Bratislava, shedding light on the balance he must strike between keeping his star forward on the pitch and managing his physical wellbeing.
Haaland sealed the game for City with a cool finish after rounding the goalkeeper just before the 60th minute. Moments later, he was substituted. As the two walked off the field together, deep in conversation, it was clear that this decision wasn’t made lightly.
Guardiola, while fully aware of Haaland’s importance to the team, knows that the Norwegian striker can’t play every minute, especially considering the intensity of the season. Haaland had just come off a physically demanding match against Newcastle at St. James’ Park, and Guardiola decided to pull him off to protect him from burnout or injury.
“Erling never gets upset with me!” Guardiola joked. “As a manager, I feel much more secure with him on the pitch. I’d love to keep him out there all the time, but with the score at 3-0 and the game pretty much wrapped up, we have to look after him. He took a big hit in the last game, so it was better to take him off after that fantastic goal, especially with the tough schedule ahead.”
Substitute James McAtee then added City’s fourth, scoring his first goal for the club and boosting their goal difference. However, Guardiola admitted he wasn’t paying much attention to the numbers, despite City missing a number of chances that could have further padded their lead.
“Someone mentioned goal difference to me, but honestly, I don’t think about that too much,” Guardiola explained. “Winning games is what matters. These away games are tough, really tough. The focus is on picking up points, and this was a good first victory to lift us higher in the table.”
With the victory secured and key players rested, City’s Champions League campaign is off to a promising start, though Guardiola will be keeping a close eye on how he manages the workload of his top stars moving forward.
