Manchester City and Newcastle United’s Premier League clash turned beast mode at St. James’ Park. The match took a hard step when Erling Haaland, the leading scorer for the reigning champs, got left bloodied and had his sock torn during the first half of the encounter. Despite Haaland’s injury, Manchester City managed to take a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to a goal from Josko Gvardiol.

When Gvardiol scored soon after, Haaland headed straight for the City bench to get some treatment and was sporting a limp for the rest of the first half. However, Newcastle fought back and secured a 1-1 draw with a penalty from Anthony Gordon. The accidental clash caused City’s number 9 some obvious discomfort.

Pep Guardiola told the media following the game at St. James Park that Haaland was dealing with some knocks. A few hours ago, @City_Xtra calmed supporters by stating that “Erling Haaland is in #ManCity training as normal.” Erling Haaland took part in Manchester City training today and showed no signs of discomfort. He looked fit and ready to play his part for the world champions tomorrow evening.

Haaland’s arrival in training is particularly key with City managing this season to defend both their Premier League and Champions League titles. Haaland is on course to have his most prolific season yet, as he has 10 goals in just five Premier League games. He broke multiple records last season, even setting a new landmark in the history of English top-flight goal-scoring, and is now undisputedly among Pep Guardiola’s most vital components.

After this match, City will return to Champions League action on Tuesday night away to Slovan Bratislava in their second game of the competition. Newcastle, on the other hand, host AFC Wimbledon on the same date in the Carabao Cup third round. Meanwhile, Haaland is being compared to Cristiano Ronaldo for a unique record.

A former Manchester United manager compared Cristiano Ronaldo to Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland has already matched Cristiano Ronaldo as the player who has scored 100 goals for a European team in the quickest time. The Norwegian international achieved the same target in 105 games as Ronaldo did at Real Madrid.

The former Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, thinks differently on this matter, comparing if Ronaldo were a part of the current Manchester City squad, he would score more goals than Haaland.

During the Oslo Business Forum, The Portugal international’s former teammate remarked, “He’d probably score more than Erling Haaland is doing at the moment [for Manchester City],” “So I speak to Cristiano; we get him to Manchester United, but I think maybe that affected the whole dressing room, the dynamics in the dressing room.”

The only other injury issue for Manchester City, aside from the long-term absences of Oscar Bobb, Rodri, and Nathan Ake, is Kevin De Bruyne. The team didn’t see the international player from Belgium during practice earlier today. It doesn’t seem probable that he will play in tomorrow’s game with Slovan Bratislava in the UEFA Champions League.