Haaland misses Man City training as foot injury fears worsen ahead of Champions League clash

Erling Haaland was absent as Manchester City trained in front of media cameras before their Champions League trip to face Red Star Belgrade.

Prolific Norway striker Haaland missing Wednesday’s final Group G game in Serbia felt likely after he sat out the Premier League win at Luton Town on Sunday with a foot injury.

When asked for an update on Haaland over the weekend, Man City boss Pep Guardiola was unsure how long the striker would be out but expressed hope he would be fit in time for their opening Club World Cup match in Saudi Arabia next week.

That would also mean the 23-year-old, who has scored 19 goals in all competitions this season, missing Saturday’s clash with Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium.

Winger Jeremy Doku was also absent from the part of the training session that media were allowed to film at the City Football Academy on Tuesday morning.

The Belgian has missed the last two games with a muscular problem.

Goalkeeper Ederson was also not involved, suggesting the Brazilian could be rested in Belgrade with number two Stefan Ortega given an opportunity.

There is nothing riding on the game for City, who have already qualified for the knockout stages as group winners.

Guardiola was likely to give an update on the squad at a press conference in Serbia on Tuesday evening.

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City midfielder Mateo Kovacic recently admitted that they must “give 20% more” while Haaland is unavailable.

“Obviously we missed key players like Erling and Kevin, it’s never easy when you miss such big players,” said Kovacic. “But they are not in the moment here, we need everybody to give 10, 20 per cent more like we did (on Sunday) and then we can win games.”

Reflecting on the win over Luton, Kovacic added: “The team was confident because we were playing good. We had not bad results, some draws where we could have won.

“This is football sometimes, then it’s about how you come back. Today we came back in a good way.

“A big three points. We showed overall great football, especially in the first half we played very well, we found a lot of players in the pockets which is what we want.

“When you do your thing and insist, the goals come. We could have scored even more, but I’m happy with the three points.

“We saw in recent games that big teams can struggle here. We showed that even when the circumstances are like this we can do our best and play good football.

“This team has shown over the years that in the tough moments, they are there, and they were there again (on Sunday).”