Erling Haaland OUT of Man City’s must-win clash against Liverpool with groin injury in huge blow to Guardiola

ERLING HAALAND is OUT of today's crunch clash with Liverpool in a major blow to Manchester City.

The superstar striker, 22, pulled out of Norway international duty after picking up a groin injury against Burnley.

And he faced a race against time to be fit in time for the visit of Jurgen Klopp's Reds to the Etihad this lunchtime.

However, he has lost that battle and will not be involved at all.

It means Julian Alvarez will lead the line for the reigning Premier League champions with Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish out wide while Phil Foden continues his recovery from appendix surgery.

Pep Guardiola, who named four centre-backs in defence, admitted on Friday he was not sure if he could risk his 42-goal hitman Haaland.

The Manchester City boss said: "Erling is recovering. This afternoon is the last training session then we'll see how he feels.

"Again, the doctors and especially the player, will decide how he feels. Yesterday I spoke with him, and he feels good.

"We will see. Life is risks and sometimes you have to take them.

"He’s scored a lot of goals, he’s scored a lot, always we are a team to score a lot of goals in the season, this is what we try to do until the end of the season."

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Haaland felt some discomfort in his groin after scoring a hat-trick in their 6-0 FA Cup thumping of Burnley on March 18.

He reported for international duty with Norway later that weekend — but it soon became clear that he would not be ready to feature in their Euro 2024 qualifiers.

The £51.4million star visited his club’s preferred medical experts in Barcelona, before taking some time to relax at his holiday home in Marbella.

Haaland then returned to Manchester late on Sunday night — but has so far not taken part in a full squad session.