Without Erling Haaland, Man City Almost Failed to Win Against Leeds

JAKARTA - Manchester City lost their mainstay striker Erling Haaland and almost failed to win when facing Leeds United. In the duel at Elland Road Stadium, Leeds, Sunday, March 1, 2026 early morning WIB, Man City only managed to win narrowly 1-0.

No Haaland, no goals that make Man City win convincingly. Even captain Bernardo Silva admitted that the team had once been nicknamed 'Haaland FC' because it was too dependent on the Norwegian national team striker.

So much so that one Julian Alvarez, the future striker of Argentina, even moved to join Atletico Madrid because he only warmed the bench.

The reason is that manager Pep Guardiola prefers to play one centre forward rather than putting both of them down. Now Alvarez is soaring in the Spanish LaLiga and has been targeted by Barcelona.

The dependence was again seen when Haaland was absent in the match against Leeds. Guardiola claimed that without Haaland it was actually 'not a big deal'. He gave the Cityzens' match record which was able to win 14 matches and only lost twice during the 18 league matches without Haaland since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

However, Man City still had difficulties when visiting Leeds' home. In the city where Haaland was born, Guardiola was forced to play two strikers, Antoine Semenyo and Omar Marmoush, to replace a Haaland who was forced to miss due to an injury during training last Thursday.

"According to that it's not about size. We'll see," Guardiola said in response to Haaland's injury. "But I don't know when he can return to play. Of course I hope he recovers soon and plays again," he said.

Without Haaland, Semenyo finally overcame Man City's deadlock. He scored the only goal in the first half injury time so that Man City could still get the crucial three points in the domestic competition. However, Man City had to work hard to win.

Even they were under pressure in the first half of the first half. Fortunately, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma showed the best performance under the crossbar so that he could thwart Leeds' attack. Including a good opportunity from striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin when the match was only three minutes.

And one goal was enough for Man City to put pressure on Arsenal who host Chelsea in the London Derby at the Emirates, Sunday night.

The reason is that Man City, who are in second place, have collected 59 points. They are only two points behind Arsenal who are at the top of the standings. If Arsenal fails to get full points in the big match, the competition for the league title will be more intense when entering the last weeks.

"This is a big win that opens up the competition," said Guardiola. "After this one game, the players will rest first to recover and return to focus on the next game. There are still many games and the average player is exhausted," he said again.

Meanwhile, Leeds are still struggling at the bottom of the table after failing to score points in the home game. The team coached by Daniel Farke who received a red card in the match is still in 15th place with 31 points. Leeds are only six points ahead of West Ham United who are in the relegation zone.