Man City beat Newcastle United 4-0 but Erling Haaland was forced off in the closing stages.

Pep Guardiola is hopeful that Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has not suffered a serious injury.

City have endured a tough season and will relinquish their Premier League title, having been crowned champions in the past four seasons. Results have been inconsistent, to say the least, and they’ve thrown away leads in the closing stages of several games - most recently a 3-2 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League knockout phase play-off first leg.

But Guardiola’s troops were back to their very best as they dismantled Newcastle United 4-0 in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League. January signing Omar Marmoush fired a first-half hat-trick while James McAtee put the gloss on the triumph in the closing stages.

However, City did have a scare when Haaland went down with a knee injury and had to come off in the 87th minute. The Etihad Stadium side travel to face Madrid in the second leg on Wednesday before Premier League leaders Liverpool make the short trip across the East Lancs on Sunday 23 February.

What’s been said

Guardiola admitted he was fearful when Haaland, who has scored 27 goals this season, went down injured. But the striker appears fine. “When he was down, everyone was scared but he got up and walked smiling like always,” the manager said. “I didn’t speak to him or the doctors but the doctors didn’t come with bad news so hopefully he is fine.”

Haaland was named captain against Newcastle, with Guardiola explaining why. “When Kyle [Walker] left, Kevin [De Bruyne] became the first [in line] and I nominated Erling to be a captain,” he said

“When a player will be 10 years here, sooner or later you take on that responsibility. It’s nice that it’s the first time in the Premier League that it happened.”

‘A player we missed’

Marmoush certainly made an impact for City as he brought up his treble in just 33 minutes. The Egyptian - an international team-mate of Liverpool’s Mo Salah - was signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported £59 million. Guardiola says that City have missed someone who can run in behind defences like Marmoush this season.

“The highlights are for him, of course,” the former Barcelona boss added. “Three goals, we knew it - in Germany at Frankfurt he made good numbers. Against Leyton Orient he had three clear chances and couldn’t score but we knew sooner or later. The dynamic of the group was good and performance was good. He showed what he is. Hopefully he can handle the biggest compliments that are coming. It’s non-stop.

It’s so simple, when you play good everyone adapts quickly but when you don’t play good, you need time. It’s not difficult. When we played against Chelsea, he played good and we won. He’s a player that we missed, his movements in behind and his pace. He likes to attack the space and he helps to play with more time. When we play like we did today, everyone is better - even the manager!”