Erling Haaland visits hospital as father issues worrying fitness update on Man City striker ahead of Liverpool clash

Erling Haaland’s father has admitted the Manchester City striker is a doubt for their upcoming clash against Liverpool.

The 22-year-old prolific centre-forward has scored an incredible 42 goals in 37 games for Pep Guardiola’s side since arriving from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

However, Haaland was forced to pull out of international duty with Norway earlier this week because of a groin injury.

City continue their pursuit of retaining the Premier League title when they face Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 1 April. The Reds have little margin for error as they push for an unlikely top-four finish.

However, the current champions could be without Haaland after he recently visited a hospital in Barcelona.

His dad, Alfie, revealed much will depend on how the 22-year-old responds to treatment in the coming days as to whether he’ll be involved against Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Via The Times, he said: “Manchester City has a partnership with a hospital in Barcelona so he has been there for further checks and treatment. “Now he has been here [Marbella] for a couple of days with the physio from the club.

“I’m not a doctor but you can’t just go two weeks without training and then jump right into a fight. There must be a progression there. They can gamble on it, but if he doesn’t get proper training with the team, then he won’t play. It is about how he responds to treatment in the next few days. He needs a lot of care.”

Alfie Haaland also revealed, while speaking during an exclusive interview with Norwegian media station TV 2 Sport, that initial assessments had highlighted “something not good”.

“It was very surprising. I knew nothing,” the former Manchester City man said. “He (Erling Haaland) called me and said that they had taken some pictures and found something that was not good.”

“I both believed and hoped that he would play (for Norway against Spain and Georgia). Everything is relative. He would very much like to have played these two international matches, but now it won’t be like that.”

Alfie Haaland continued, “He must prioritise his health, try to get his body back in place. Based on the assumptions, he is doing well, but he is very sad.”

“First and foremost, it is the national team that makes the decision, but they cooperate, of course. They must have as much knowledge as possible about this and of course ask the doctors and physios at Manchester City. Then they come up with something together.”

Whether or not Haaland will be available for Manchester City’s return to action on April 1st remains an unknown, with Liverpool being the visitors to the Etihad Stadium in a Premier League title clash.