Pep Guardiola hands Erling Haaland fitness update for Carabao Cup final after Real Madrid substitution | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has issued an update on Erling Haaland’s availability for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.

Haaland scored the only City goal in a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie and was taken off for Omar Marmoush after 57 minutes in Tuesday’s 2-1 return leg defeat.

The 25-year-old has struggled for goals in 2026 as Manchester City’s quest for a successful finish to what seemed to have all the makings of a promising season in the autumn of 2025 falters, with the Blues bowing out of Europe this week at the hands of Real Madrid for the third season running.

Guardiola and co remain in the hunt for a treble of trophies and can turn a corner after a horror run of recent form should they emerge victorious in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley.

Guardiola: Haaland substitution against Real Madrid not down to injury

There were concerns over Haaland being taken off just before the hour mark at the Etihad Stadium in the second leg, with the Norwegian understood to have endured some pain in his groin in last week’s 3-0 defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu.

City did not have a luxury of clear-cut chances in Tuesday’s loss but Haaland had a series of decent chances saved by Thibaut Courtois, who was immense in goal for Real Madrid and Alvaro Arbeloa as they improved upon their first leg advantage in Manchester.

Guardiola was asked about Haaland’s substitution in his post-match press conference and the Manchester City manager confirmed that the 25-year-old forward is fit and available for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.

The Blues remain in the running for a treble of trophies this term and as they look to cut Arsenal’s nine point lead at the top of the Premier League table, City can gain a significant confidence boost for the run-in by picking up their first piece of silverware in 21 months this weekend.

What has Guardiola made of Haaland’s struggles of late?

Speaking candidly on the goals drying up for Haaland since the turn of the year after last week’s 1-1 draw with West Ham, Guardiola admitted that Manchester City need to see the best of their number nine but conceded that service to the Norwegian hasn’t been up to the mark.

“We need his goals, definitely,” Guardiola said. “But we need to create more, like we created for example in the first 15, 20 minutes (of the second-half against West Ham); he had three or four chances there. And in the first-half he didn’t have, why?

“Because we had a lot of control but we were not a threat as much as the second-half. And to be involved, we have to create that threat that sometimes we didn’t have. But he will be back.”

We will try to compete against the best team in Europe, says Guardiola

On the importance of the Carabao Cup final after missing out on another trophy, Guardiola added: “On Monday, hopefully we wake up, hopefully it’s a sunny day – and we will continue. It’s not crucial, it’s a football game, we are going to try to win, good performance.

“We challenge the best team in England (Arsenal), the best team in Europe. Challenge them, how we are, competing with them. After one or two weeks, play against them in the Premier League and see. Sometimes they are better, so it’s a good mirror to see what we have to do. It’s just a game, we’ll prepare, and try to compete, and see who we are.

“The results have not been good except Newcastle (in the FA Cup) but I have the feeling that we are an extraordinary team. There are many, many, many good things that I love to watch, but still we are not complete. It’s a question of time, we need a little bit of time; we’ve changed a lot many things.”

Haaland will be desperate to prove a point to himself, more so than anyone, by spearheading Manchester City to their first piece of silverware in two seasons against Arsenal on Sunday.