Pep Guardiola lightened up when he spoke about Manchester City's £2 million fine by the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola quipped that he had not known about the rules regarding late kick-offs and said he would shorten his team talks to avoid being punished again. The punishment was handed out due to 22 late starts across the past two campaigns, with sanctions increasing from initial warnings to fines of up to £200,000 for repeated offenders.

However, the Premier League explained that the club was warned by City about the need to kick off matches and resume matches without delay. The fine is not related to the 115 alleged breaches of financial regulations currently under investigation.

Reacting to the fine, Guardiola said he learned about it from news reports and jokingly added, "I will try to make my halftime speeches shorter."

On a more serious note, an update on Erling Haaland's condition was given by Guardiola. The Norwegian was withdrawn at halftime in both friendlies – first as a precautionary measure and secondly with reportedly muscular issues – against Barcelona in Orlando. Guardiola has confirmed Haaland is recovering well and might get a few minutes in the next match, saying, "He is much better. He told me today he woke up feeling much better, and hopefully tomorrow he can play a few minutes."

Another example of Haaland feeling any better was when he trained in the Lower.com Field – the home to the MLS Cup Champions Columbus Crew – in front of 6,000 City fans in Ohio. This isn't easy, with expensive tickets and bad weather.