Erling Haaland has effectively been ruled out for the remainder of the Premier League season, dealing a major blow to Manchester City’s push for Champions League qualification.
The striker suffered an ankle injury in City’s 2–1 FA Cup win over Bournemouth, and Pep Guardiola confirmed he will be sidelined for five to seven weeks.
“The doctors told me between five and seven weeks,” Guardiola said. “So hopefully the end of the season and the World Cup he will be ready.”
The Premier League season ends in seven weeks on 25 May.
Haaland’s absence removes City’s top scorer, with 30 goals across all competitions, from their final domestic fixtures. City, currently fifth, trail Arsenal by 13 points with a game in hand and face Leicester City on Wednesday. Just eight league games remain after that.
“We don’t have another player with Erling’s skills or his specific qualities,” Guardiola admitted. “But we have to adapt. We will find a solution with the players we have.”
With Rodri also missing much of the season and multiple other injury problems, Guardiola said simply qualifying for the Champions League would now be “an incredible success”.
“Sometimes there are years when these kinds of things happen. It’s happened all season,” he said.
They are currently fifth at the time of writing, one point behind Chelsea who play Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night.