San Francisco Frontiers - Haaland a doubt for Man City showdown with 'exceptional' Liverpool

The Norwegian was named on the bench at the Santiago Bernabeu but did not make an appearance as City were outclassed in a 3-1 defeat on Wednesday to crash out 6-3 on aggregate.

"Tomorrow we will know," said Guardiola at his pre-match press conference on Friday.

The January signing of Omar Marmoush at least means Guardiola does have a back-up option should Haaland fail to recover in time to face the league leaders, but Guardiola could not hide the importance of his 27-goal star striker.

"It's better to have Erling on the pitch than not," he added. "Of course with Erling we are stronger."

The battle for supremacy between Guardiola's City and Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool marked an era in the Premier League.

But Arne Slot has seamlessly succeeded Klopp to have the Reds on course for the title in his first season in charge.

"For me it's an exceptional team. I have said many times, they have been the biggest rival in my tenure here," said Guardiola.

"Arsenal right now in the last years have been involved as well, but I could not expect differently that Liverpool (would) be in the position that they are."

Liverpool hold an eight-point lead over Arsenal, who have a game in hand and are favourites to cut the gap to five when they host West Ham on Saturday.

After four consecutive title triumphs, City's defence of their crown is realistically over as they are 17 points adrift of Liverpool in fourth.

Injuries have played a major role in City's decline.

John Stones is set for another couple of months on the sidelines after limping off with a thigh tear early on against Madrid, while Rodri and Manuel Akanji may also not play again this season.

Guardiola pointed to a brutal schedule as the cause and pointed out that Arsenal, Real Madrid and Tottenham are among other clubs battling a number of serious muscle injuries this season.

City's season could stretch into mid-July due to their participation in the Club World Cup, with the next Premier League season starting barely a month later.

Guardiola said he is already fearing a repeat situation next season that could hinder City's hopes of bouncing back and competing for major honours.

"Of course, I'm concerned. So, next season, everybody will be fit? I don't know what's going to happen," he added.

"We have already a lot of players that cannot sustain what we have in the past. Week in, week out, playing a dozen different competitions, travels. Without the problems.

"More than 50 games, it's too much for the players. It's too much for the human being, the body cannot sustain without a medical issue.

"And we arrived at 65, 70 games and, at the end, look what happened. It's not just Man City. It's all the clubs."

Q.Nelson--SFF