The Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has warned that players cannot be “sharp” if they are made to play 70 games a year. The Norway international has enjoyed a summer break, but some of those who were on duty in Germany struggled to reproduce their best form at the end of a long campaign. Haaland, in New York on City’s pre-season tour, said: “We all saw in the Euros as well in general how tired people were. You could see the level, you could see even in people’s faces how tired they were of football, if you can say it that way. “That’s how it will be as well this season, not in the start, though maybe for some because some will not get a lot of vacation. But that’s the way we’re going now, I don’t think we can be sharp in every single game. We can try, but it’s difficult to be sharp if you play over 70 games a year.” City won a fourth successive Premier League title last season, but missed out in the Champions League after a penalty shootout defeat by eventual winners Real Madrid when Haaland hit the bar in a thrilling quarter-final second leg at the Etihad Stadium. Asked what they were missing, Haaland said: “I don’t think we’re missing anything. City has been close. For the last three years, they have been so close in the Champions League and one year we won the Champions League and have won the Premier league four years in a row. “So what City are missing, it’s not a lot because what this club has been doing for the last six years has been amazing. In the end, in the Champions League it’s about margins. If my crossbar header goes in, it would be a completely different story, maybe.”