Manchester City lose Haaland to injury | Soccer | Sports

It’s raining in Luton. It’s snowing in Luton. The sun is rising in Luton. A capricious wind is blowing. The unpleasant climate of the English countryside seeps into every crevice of the small stadium The Hatters when this Sunday Pep Guardiola arrives at the event like a crow, in the spirit of the times, entirely wrapped in a black parka. His team, Manchester City, have gone four consecutive days without winning a premiership match, equaling their worst record since arriving in England in 2016. Luton Town awaits in the relegation zone. Desperate. As if that wasn’t enough, before the match, the Spanish coach had to announce some terrible news: Erling Haaland, City’s top scorer, the pichichi of the Prime Minister, second in the votes for the last Ballon d’Or behind Messi, suffers from an injury of unknown severity.

“He is suffering from a stress injury to a bone in his foot,” Guardiola said on Sky, the television station which holds the rights to the championship. “You can’t play.”

The coach does not specify which foot it is, nor which bone. But stress injuries to football players’ feet are usually associated with fractures or cracks in the bones, often the fifth metatarsal. “After the game against Aston Villa (last Wednesday in Birmingham, where City were beaten 1-0), he was already like that,” the coach said. Asked about the seriousness of the accident, he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he said; “Week by week, day by day, we’ll see what happens. »

The 23-year-old striker, top scorer in this Premier with 14 goals and author of 19 goals in 22 matches in all competitions this season, has been experiencing foot problems for weeks. During the last training camp with Norway, in the 2024 Euro Cup qualifying window, he had to leave the training camp to undergo medical treatment.

A powerful and fragile body

Haaland’s physical build has always been a source of concern for Guardiola and City’s coaches. The Norwegian measures 1.94 meters and weighs nearly 90 kilos, extraordinary physical qualities in football, a game that rewards lightness. His muscular power constitutes both his strength and his weak point. According to experts who analyzed his signature in Dortmund, Haaland is able to develop so much energy that when he starts running, his joints take the impact of the body when braking and changing direction. It was not in vain that he sat out half the season in his final year at Dortmund, due to waist problems. To take care of him, Guardiola rotated him last season. This breakup, however, displeased Haaland and sparked criticism in the media. This season, Haaland has started all 15 Premier matches played up to this weekend. The wear and tear has taken its toll.

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