Coach Solbakken denies that City have urged Norwegian FA to shield Haaland from media

[p]The Norwegian Football Federation had originally listed the 26-year-old forward as a primary participant for the media briefing ahead of their Nations League encounter with Portugal but following the news of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-city/Wtn9Stg0/"]City[/a] being found guilty, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/haaland-erling/UmV9iQmE/"]Haaland[/a] was pulled from the list of persons who would attend the press conference.[/p][p]The Norwegian Football Federation confirmed that the schedule had been changed through media manager Morten Skjonsberg, who announced via TV 2 that manager [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/solbakken-stale/pxok8eTM/"]Stale Solbakken[/a] alongside [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/aursnes-fredrik/j1vdxcqN/"]Fredrik Aursnes[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/schjelderup-andreas/SEp0z7ho/"]Andreas Schjelderup[/a] would take the floor instead of the City striker.[/p][embed guid="08563d5d-ea7b-47eb-b110-49d3c03350db" url="https://x.com/Erling/status/2104552536648663417" social-type="twitter" /][p]Solbakken says that the decision to pull Haaland was his own and not something which Manchester City had urged him to do. [/p][p][b]"If there’s one thing I’ve never done in this group, it’s tell a white lie or lie in any way whatsoever. I always tell the truth. I haven’t spoken to City at all"[/b], said Solbakken on Monday's press conference.[/p][p][b]"This was a decision I made without informing Erling. "You don't have to do this; if you want to go, you go, but as far as I'm concerned, you're excused. [/b]That is the only thing that has happened."[/p][p]Norway lost 2-1 against Portugal in their first defeat in Oslo in nearly three years on Sunday and will face Wales in Cardiff on Thursday evening. [/p]