Inside the complex operation behind maintaining Erling Haaland’s Manchester City fitness

Erling Haaland undergoes round the clock care in an attempt to prevent injury, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed.

The 22 year-old, who scored his 45th goal of the season during Tuesday’s first-leg quarter-final win over Bayern Munich, recently returned from a groin injury which forced the forward to withdraw from international duty.

Haaland missed the 4-1 win over Liverpool earlier this month and was also absent for a 1-0 win over Leicester City due to injury in October.

The Norwegian has made 39 appearances for City so far this season, a significant improvement on the 30 appearances he made for Borussia Dortmund during an injury-hampered campaign last year in Germany.

Haaland completed a £51 million move to Manchester City in June and looks set to win the Premier League Golden Boot during his maiden campaign in England.

The striker has scored 30 league goals in 27 appearances and has also netted 11 times in the Champions League.

As well as registering 50 direct involvements, the City talisman has scored six hat-tricks, including against Manchester United and RB Leipzig.

The Blues are still bidding to complete a treble, with City fighting to win the Premier League, Champions League and Emirates FA Cup.

Haaland will play a key role in City’s silverware hopes, and as a result, manager Pep Guardiola has provided new insight into the complex operation behind maintaining the forwards fitness and preventing injury.

“I don’t know what they have done, what he has done in Dortmund. But here we take care of him 24 hours,” revealed Guardiola.

“We have incredible physios, incredible doctors behind him, in every single detail. Always in the club we spoke about that.

“It’s difficult for me to understand when you spend a lot of money on players and you leave them. I don’t know what the other clubs do except for my experiences in the past.

“Today, with this demanding schedule every three days, behind the players you have to have an incredible entourage to take care of them. It’s so demanding today with the nutrition, the rest, the sleep, and the food, and the training, how many minutes.

“There are days when they cannot train any more than 10/15 minutes. Otherwise it will be a risk.

“The people say, ‘Why was he substituted against Leipzig?’ when he scored all the goals. After one day after he was injured after Burnley, and was 10/15 days out, could not play with Norway, could not play with us against Liverpool.

“Because we know them, you have to be like a watch, because he’s so big, you have to be physios, massage, backs, and shoulders, his problems in his tendons, and everything.

“He works much, much, much, much time, but much, much time inside of the training centre than on the pitch in training. Much, much more.

“Today, in modern football, normally the players train more behind the scenes than on the pitch.”