Manchester, March 15 (BNA): Erling Haaland became the third player in Champions League history to score five goals in one match, as he led Manchester City to a crunching 7-0 defeat of RB Leipzig in the second leg of the last 16. Tie on Tuesday.
And Reuters reported that the victory, equal to the largest European victory for City, sent coach Pep Guardiola’s team to the quarter-finals with a score of 8-1 on aggregate, and Ilkay Gundogen and Kevin De Bruyne scored a goal for City in a devastating display at the Etihad Stadium.
It was a record-breaking night for the 22-year-old Haaland, who became Manchester City’s top scorer in one season as he raised his season tally to 39 goals, surpassing Tommy Johnson’s record from 1928 to 2929.
He also became the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the UEFA Champions League as he moved to 33 goals, achieving this mark in 25 matches, the lowest ever.
“It’s a big night. Firstly, I’m proud to play in this tournament, I love it. Five goals. Winning 7-0 is great,” he said.
He added, “My superpower is scoring goals. Should I be honest? There are a lot of goals today, I didn’t think so. I was just trying to score them.” “A lot of it is quick on the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper isn’t.”
Haaland hinted he was in for a big night with a quick brace, slotting home a penalty in the 22nd minute after Benjamin Henriques was adjudged to have handled the penalty area after a VAR review, with the Norwegian celebrating with a knee kick and salute. .
He found the net again 19 seconds after kick-off.
Haaland pressed the Leipzig goalkeeper and made a bad shot that fell in front of De Bruyne. The Belgian’s shot bounced off the crossbar and rebounded to Haaland, who headed home.
His fifth hat-trick in all competitions this season came in first-half injury time when Ruben Dias’ header deflected down the line and Haaland lunged in to force it into the net.
“Wonderful,” Guardiola said to Haaland night. “He’s got a huge competition mentality, he’s out there and yeah, he’s scored five goals and that’s not easy.”
Gundogen made it 4-0 in the 49th minute, driving a low goal into the bottom corner from the edge of the area, before Haaland capped off his night of making history with two more from close range in the 53rd and 57th minutes.
Guardiola replaced the Norwegian in the 62nd minute, and Leipzig may have avoided further humiliation, but denied Haaland the opportunity to score a record sixth in a single Champions League match.
“I told him (Guardiola) that I would like to score a hat-trick, but what can I do?” Haaland said.
De Bruyne scored an impressive seventh goal seconds before the final whistle.
Manchester City have never lifted the Champions League title, and the closest they came was in 2021 when they lost 1-0 to Chelsea in the final. They lost to Real Madrid in the semi-finals last season.
Leipzig manager Marco Rose knew before kick-off that Haaland would present a huge challenge, and he was right.
“It was a wonderful night,” said Rose. “He was very hungry.” “He scored goals with his foot and head, he won second balls, he ran deep. It looked really simple.”