Norway risk wrath of Man City boss Pep Guardiola after Erling ...
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Pep Guardiola's message to Norway over how they should handle Manchester City forward Erling Haaland over the November international break could not have been clearer.
"Erling is fine," Guardiola revealed earlier this month. "[Is he OK playing all games?] I don’t think so. Maybe, the international games [in November], he can rest."
Yet, Haaland played 87 minutes, and scored a goal, during Norway's 4-1 win over Slovenia in the UEFA Nations League on Thursday evening.
And with Norway needing a win to give themselves a chance of moving above Austria to win automatic promotion to League A, as well as positioning themselves as high as possible for a potential World Cup qualifying play-off place, the likelihood of Haaland not playing in Sunday's clash with Kazakhstan is slim at best.
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It will worry Guardiola, who has had to manage a brutal injury crisis at City across the last few weeks which resulted in them losing four successive matches before the November international break.
Kyle Walker, who rushed himself back from injury to aid City's crisis, played the full 90 minutes for England, too, as they beat Greece 3-0 in Athens. Rico Lewis, who Guardiola bemoaned he could not rest at the height of City's injury problems, also played the full match.
Meanwhile, Savinho, who has had to contend with an injury issue of his own in recent weeks, started for Brazil in their 1-1 draw with Venezuela. So, too, did goalkeeper Ederson.
It is part of the territory of managing a huge club that your star players will represent their country. But given the importance of these two weeks to recharge City's season, Guardiola will struggle not to worry about any more players adding to City's already considerable injury woes.
