Why isn’t Erling Haaland playing for Manchester City vs. Bayer Leverkusen in Champions League?
Manchester City are playing an important match in the league phase of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League. They host Bayer Leverkusen looking for a win that would improve their position in the standings as they chase qualification for the round of 16. Despite the significance of the matchup, Erling Haaland is not in the starting XI.
Head coach Pep Guardiola decided to rest several important players for this European match, considering the heavy workload some stars have carried since last week’s FIFA break. For that reason, Haaland is on the bench along with other key players.
Similar to the Norwegian striker, Guardiola gave rest on Tuesday to several team stars whose physical preservation is a priority heading into the decisive stages of the season. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, and Phil Foden are among the players who did not start the match and could instead come on from the bench.
Manchester City can afford to be without some of their best players because they have enjoyed a strong start to the Champions League. They secured three wins and one draw in their first four matches, placing them in position for direct qualification to the round of 16. In fact, a victory at home this Tuesday against Bayer Leverkusen would leave them, at least until tomorrow, as the sole leaders of the standings with 13 points.
Manchester City without Haaland
With Haaland on the bench, Pep Guardiola opted to replace him with a player of different characteristics: Omar Marmoush. The Egyptian forward, while often deployed as a center forward, also has the versatility to play as a winger or even deeper. His physical profile and style of play make him a very different option from Haaland.
The Citizens’ lineup includes other players who have not typically been regular starters in recent times, such as Oscar Bobb and Savinho on the wings. They are joined in midfield by Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez, serving as the creative players.
The impact of Haaland at Manchester City
Having Erling Haaland out of the starting XI is an unusual situation for the Citizens. In fact, until now the Norwegian striker had started every match for the team this season in major tournaments. Before this Tuesday, he had started all four Champions League games, scoring a total of five goals.
Haaland’s numbers in the Premier League are similar. There, he has started all 12 matches so far, recording 14 goals and one assist. That makes him the league’s top scorer in England, holding a clear advantage over Brentford’s Igor Thiago, who has nine.
In the current 2025–26 campaign, Haaland has missed only two matches for Manchester City. Both came in the Carabao Cup, where Guardiola’s team did not need their biggest star to get past lower-level opponents: they defeated Huddersfield and Swansea by scores of 2–0 and 3–1, respectively, to advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face Brentford.