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Pep Explains Haaland & Cancelo Substitutions

Pep Explains Haaland & Cancelo Substitutions

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained his decision to remove both Erling Haaland and Joao Cancelo in Tuesday’s 0-0 UEFA Champions League draw at Borussia Dortmund.

The star pair were both substituted off at half-time in the goalless draw which sealed City’s progress to the knockout stages.

The game was Haaland’s first trip to face his former club Dortmund, yet he was unable to make a significant impact.

“Three things: I saw him so tired,” Guardiola said.

“Second one, he had a little bit of influenza in his body. Like Joao – Joao had a fever.

“Then the third, he had a knock in his foot. Thats why he was not able to play the second half.”

The Spaniard added about Cancelo: “Today we were exhausted, the game against Brighton drained us a lot – it was demanding, man to man, it was physically so demanding.

“Joao with fever made an incredible effort. I want to say thank you to Joao because we don’t have Sergio or Kyle and John made an effort to come back.”

That came among a busy period of the English champions, who face Leicester City on Saturday, before a home clash with Sevilla in the Champions League in midweek.

City also take on Fulham in the league (November 5), Chelsea in the EFL Cup (November 9) and Brentford in the league (November 12) before the World Cup break.

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