Jack Grealish faced shots from Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
The England international, who is enjoying a superb second season at the Etihad Stadium, went in goal during City’s latest training session.
While De Bruyne took it reasonably easy against the winger, Haaland most definitely did not.
City were gearing up for arguably their most important match of the season.
Find a way past Real Madrid and they will enter this season’s Champions League as the overwhelming favourites. Inter Milan will face the winners in Istanbul on June 10, but the Serie A outfit are not quite the force they once were.
Video: Grealish goals in goal and tries to stop Haaland and De Bruyne
Watch the footage here:
And here’s another video of Haaland stinging Grealish’s hand with a vicious strike:
Even in training against a teammate who isn’t a goalkeeper, Haaland is still desperate to score.
Pep Guardiola: ‘I’m not overthinking’
Fans have joked on social media that City boss Pep Guardiola is planning to play Grealish instead of Ederson in goal.
Guardiola has a reputation for overthinking things when it comes to the biggest matches in the Champions League, although the revered Catalan coach insisted in his pre-match press conference that this won’t be the case on Wednesday.
“Hopefully you can see tomorrow,” Guardiola told reporters, per The Guardian. “Nothing special. I’m not overthinking, don’t worry guys, nothing different to what we’ve done, just more fluid and play a bit better.
“The emotion is there and has to be high, but just this won’t beat a team like Madrid. We have to adjust something, do it a little better to create chances for our strikers and people up front to get more balls, transitions, the quality they have in all departments.”
City on course for historic treble
City are also expected to win the Premier League title after opening up a four-point lead over Arsenal at the top of the table.
Beat Chelsea on Saturday and they will secure their fifth league title in six seasons.
The relentless City also have a chance to win the FA Cup when they face neighbours Manchester United in next month’s final.
