Norway head coach Stale Solbakken revealed Erling Haaland's heavy workload led to him asking to be substituted against Portugal in the Nations League.

Haaland signalled to Norway's bench that he needed to be replaced in the 2-1 loss to the Group A4 leaders and was taken off in the 67th minute.

The striker started all four of the team's Nations League matches during the extended break, scoring three goals, though they all came in the first two games.

Haaland has also started all seven of Manchester City's games so far in all competitions, coming off the back of a summer in which he helped take Norway to the World Cup quarter-finals.

He was not moving freely before his substitution against Portugal, though Solbakken tried to allay injury worries ahead of Haaland's return to Manchester.

"He was tired against Wales," Solbakken said when asked about Haaland.

"That's why we had a heart-to-heart conversation [on Saturday]. We went through the possible options.

"He might have played the last 45 minutes against Portugal. That was a discussion. But he has very bad vibes and feelings about it. I am very pleased that he managed to pull out 60 good minutes.

"He's in the group that carries the heaviest workload — precisely because his team [City] plays in every tournament and he's the main man.

"It's tough. But we can't do anything about it. We just have to play the games we are called up for. It's tough.

"For those who play in the Champions League and have had little vacation, it's more brutal than for the others. Especially for the players who didn't get a vacation this summer because of the World Cup and that they came far. We did that."

Norway currently sit at the bottom of their Nations League group with only two games left to go: a home game against Wales before a trip to Denmark in November.

"The points haul is too poor," Solbakken added. "But there is no nut to crack.

"It's just a matter of continuing as we have done for a while, and which we have had great success with. We will get even more of that in the future if we have our best players with us."