Erling Haaland was named among Manchester City’s substitutes for Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Copenhagen in a rare rest for the prolific striker ahead of next weekend’s showdown with Liverpool.
The Norway international had started all 13 of City’s matches since joining from Borussia Dortmund in the close season, scoring a remarkable 20 goals and breaking a number of records along the way.
However, Pep Guardiola left Haaland out of his starting line-up to face Copenhagen as one of five changes from the 4-0 win over Southampton at the weekend.
Julian Alvarez was brought into the side to lead the attack – just his third start of the season – while Aymeric Laporte, Sergio Gomez, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish were also recalled.
Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva joined Haaland in dropping to the bench at the Parken Stadium, with City operating in a 4-3-3 formation.
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City entered the match in the Danish capital knowing a fourth win out of four in Group G would send them through to the knockout phase with two matches to spare.
Guardiola’s men turn focus back to Premier League matters on Sunday with a trip to out-of-form Liverpool, who have been their perennial rivals for the title over the past four years.
Copenhagen XI: Grabara; Lund, Khocholava, Boilesen; Jelert, Stamenic, Lerager, Kristiansen; Claesson, Haraldsson, Daramy.
Subs: Johnsson, Ryan, Diks, Sorensen, Johanneson, Mukairu, Ankersen, Clem, Roony.
Manchester City XI:Â Ederson; Cancelo, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez; Rodrigo, Gundogan (c), De Bruyne; Mahrez, Grealish, Alvarez.
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Dias, Ake, Haaland, Silva, Foden, Palmer, Lewis, Wilson-Esbrand.
SOURCE: livescore.com
