Erling Haaland: Norway's Manchester City star out of Republic of Ireland friendly

Norway say Manchester City striker Haaland could feature against Finland on Sunday

Manchester City star Erling Haaland will miss Norway's friendly against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Thursday.

Haaland's anticipated involvement had contributed to 45,000 tickets being sold for the match.

The Norwegian FA said on Sunday that Haaland and goalkeeper Jacob Karlstrom would "not join the team in Dublin".

However, they added Haaland could feature in Sunday's friendly against Finland.

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Haaland is the Premier League's top goalscorer this season having notched 18 goals in 13 games.

The Norway striker has missed a number of games over the last month after being troubled by a foot injury although he did feature in Saturday's shock 2-1 home defeat by Brentford after coming on as substitute in City's previous Premier League game - a win over Fulham, in which he scored a match-clinching late penalty.