Haaland Scored Five Goals To Fire Man City Into Quarter-finals
Erling Haaland scored five goals to fire Manchester City into the quarterfinals of the Champions League as Pep Guardiola side thumped RB Leipzig 7-0 on Tuesday in the return leg to win 8-1 on aggregate in the last 16 tie at the Etihad.
The Norwegian opened the scoring from the spot midway through the first half and doubled the lead two minutes later before bundling in Ruben Dias’ header off the woodwork to complete his fifth hat-trick of the season.
Ilkay Gundogan made it four shortly after the resumption before Haaland struck twice in the space of four minutes to take his tally to 39 goals across all competitions.
Kevin De Bruyne then curled home a sumptuous long range effort in the final minutes to round off an impressive display in front of their home supporters.
Haaland’s five-goal haul has made him become the third player to score five goals in a single UEFA Champions League game after Luiz Adriano and Lionel Messi. He also became the youngest and fastest player to pass 30 Champions League goals as etched his name into European history.
Leipzig might felt very hard done by after the dubious penalty decision that led to City’s first goal definitely changed the dynamics of the game. They managed only nine shots on target against their hosts’ 16 as they crumbled and succumbed to Manchester City’s relentlessness.
Elsewhere in Portugal, FC Porto and Inter Milan played a tame goalless draw as Serie A giants held onto their 1-0 win in the first leg to secure a spot in the last eight.
‘Haaland will be criticized forever if he doesn’t score two or three’
Haaland has now broken Man City’s 94-year record for most goals scored in a season, beating the previous record of Tommy Johnson that has stood since 1929.
The 22-year-old has scored five hat-tricks in all competitions this term, three more than any other player in Europe’s big five leagues.
Guardiola said: “Yeah, it is a lot. And most of time, after scoring a hat-trick, after 65 minutes I make a substitution.
“If he had achieved this milestone [scoring a double hat-trick], the record at 22 or 23 years old, it would be boring, his life. Now he has a target to do it in the future. Here and everywhere. So that is why I made the substitution.”
“Just today he scored five goals but I think he touched 30 or 35 ball contacts. This is what we are looking for. I have a feeling that when you are involved in the game – defensively and offensively – when the ball comes to you, you are more clever, more precise.”
“He can do it but it is difficult to score a goal when you have not touched the ball for 40 or 50 minutes. Sometimes it is his fault. He does not move. For example, at Crystal Palace, I said to him, you did not play good today. But other days it is our fault. For example, at RB Leipzig, when we could not find him in the second half.
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