Carabao Cup: Why I didn’t play Haaland against Tottenham – Guardiola

Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola has explained why he did not play striker Erling Haaland during his side’s Carabao Cup Round of 16 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.

Guardiola watched as Tottenham Hotspur eliminated his team from the Carabao Cup last-16 on Wednesday

The Spanaird opted not to feature Haaland who sat at the bench during the duration of the encounter.

Two goals from Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr ensured Tottenham advanced to the last-8.

Matheus Nunes did score for the Premier League champions.

Speaking after the game, Guardiola said he didn’t play Haaland against Spurs because the Norway international has played a lot of matches so far this season.

“It’s quite simple… the plan was for him not to play this game,” Guardiola told Sky Sports about Haaland.

“He’s played a lot of minutes, we knew for this week we’ve no recovery and not many players and I didn’t want to waste energy for him.”

Haaland will now hope to feature for Man City when they face Bournemouth in the Premier League this weekend.