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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has hinted he is willing to risk Erling Haaland‘s fitness against Liverpool.
Haaland withdrew from the Norway squad during the international break because of a groin injury and missed training with City on Thursday.
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Guardiola will give the striker time to prove his fitness before Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and suggested he might be willing to gamble that the 22-year-old is ready.
“We’ll see,” Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.
“The doctors and the player will decide if he feels good. Life is risks and sometimes you have to take them. He’s scored a lot of goals, he’s scored a lot, always we are a team to score a lot of goals in the season, this is what we try to do until the end of the season.”
City will hold their final training session of the week on Friday afternoon and Guardiola is hopeful Haaland will be able to take part. Phil Foden will miss the game with Liverpool after undergoing an operation to remove his appendix while on duty with England.
“Erling is recovering,” Guardiola said. “We have a last training session and we’ll see how he feels. That’s all. We’ll see this afternoon, last training at 4 p.m. we will see how he feels.”
City are still fighting to win three competitions before the end of the season and face games in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup during a hectic April schedule.
“I said many times, just one team won the treble because it’s so difficult, that’s why we don’t think about it,” Guardiola added.
“We have this game [against Liverpool] then a long week and then a tough schedule. The most important thing is we are still fighting in all competitions and that is so good. To sustain for 10 or 11 months is so difficult, still we are there.”