Manchester City, Maresca face anxious wait over Haaland injury scare

Haaland had taken a blow to the foot late in the game and appeared to be struggling when he left the pitch. | Photo Credit: AP

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca will have to wait and watch his star player Erling Haaland’s fitness after the Manchester City striker limped off following his brace in Saturday’s 3-2 win against Ipswich in the Premier League.

Haaland netted twice after Daizen Maeda had cancelled out Phil Foden’s opener for City at the Etihad Stadium. The double took the Norwegian’s season tally to 12 goals across competitions.

However, the towering forward’s fine form might get affected after he was seen walking with a limp at full-time. Haaland had taken a blow to the foot late in the game and appeared to be struggling when he left the pitch.

Maresca is hopeful the issue is minor but will await the result of checks on his talismanic forward.

“We will see. I asked him and he said he was OK, so hopefully it is nothing serious,” he said.

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Maresca became the first manager in Premier League history to win his first seven matches as table-topping City maintained its 100 percent start to the campaign.

But the Italian revealed a number of other players had also suffered knocks.

“Unfortunately in 10 minutes we had four of five players, Matheus (Nunes), Kova (Mateo Kovacic), Erling, Antoine (Semenyo) and Nico (O’Reilly) also, but they are inside now and we will see,” he said.

City continues to show its defiance in the face of the club’s ongoing crisis following its guilty verdict for breaching Premier League financial rules.

City is appealing against the decision but could face a huge points deduction or even expulsion from the Premier League if it loses the appeal.

Haaland’s future will be plunged into doubt if City is no longer in the top flight, and Maresca acknowledged his importance.

“It’s fantastic for him. He’s not just scoring goals, he’s one of the leaders, he’s one of the captains. He’s doing very well,” he said.