Manchester City's Nathan Ake suffers injury scare on international duty

Ake started in a three-man defensive wall alongside Lutsharel Geertruida and Virgil van Dijk at the Philips Stadion, where the Netherlands eased to a 3-0 victory in front of their own fans.

Liverpool's Cody Gakpo was on target in the first half, as were Marten de Roon and Wout Weghorst, as Ronald Koeman's men killed the game off before the half-time whistle sounded.

However, Ake - who had picked up a yellow card moments before the break - did not emerge for the second half, as Inter Milan's Stefan de Vrij saw out the game in the back three.

While Ake's substitution made some sense from a tactical point of view given that the 28-year-old was on a booking, a report from NOS - via the Manchester Evening News - claims that he was also feeling pain in his hamstring.

Oranje head coach Koeman played down Ake's withdrawal as precautionary, but it is unclear whether the City man will be considered for selection when the Dutch travel to Dublin to face Ireland on Sunday.

Ake has been no stranger to hamstring injuries in the past, though, having missed a total of nine games with two such issues in the 2022-23 season, including both legs of their Champions League semi-final win over Real Madrid.

Between November 2020 and March 2021, the ex-Chelsea man also sat out 26 matches for club and country with a pair of hamstring concerns, the most severe of which kept him out for almost three months.

Man City head coach Pep Guardiola had already gone into the international break without John Stones owing to his thigh injury, but there is hope that the Englishman will be back for the Citizens' clash with West Ham United on September 16.

The same can be said for Jack Grealish - who withdrew from the England squad owing to a quadriceps issue - but Kevin De Bruyne is not expected back from his hamstring injury until July.

A few eyebrows were raised when Erling Haaland sat out Norway's recent friendly win over Jordan, but head coach Stale Solbakken confirmed that the talismanic striker was only rested.

"It is about a conversation with him that I have had on the same level as the 13-14 others who are eligible to start. They [City] started the pre-season 14 days later than everyone else because of the Champions League. There is a small backlog, which is getting smaller and smaller every day," Solbakken told the press.

"Then we think it makes the most sense for him to build up and train with Bjorn Vidar Stenersen [physio/coach] so that he is 100 per cent by Tuesday."

Haaland will be expected to return for Norway when the Scandinavian outfit continue their qualification campaign at home to Georgia on Tuesday.