Manchester City defeated RB Leipzig 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday to advance 8-1 overall. Erling Haaland created history by scoring five goals, including a hat trick in the first half.
Haaland, along with Lionel Messi, are the only players to score five goals in a Champions League knockout stage game, and he and Luiz Adriano are the only other two. This performance showcased Haaland’s superhuman abilities.
The Norwegian striker broke City’s single-season scoring record, which Tommy Johnson had previously established in 1928–1929, by scoring 39 goals in the course of the season after his record-equaling haul.
“a significant evening. To start with, I’m happy and thrilled to participate in this tournament. Five aims. It’s wonderful to win 7-0 “he said.
“Scoring goals is my superpower. Should I be frank? I didn’t believe there were many goals today. All I was trying to do was get it to go into the back of the net “Furthermore, he said. “A lot of it is thinking quickly and attempting to place it where the goalie is not,” said the player.
The round of 16 match was finely matched after a 1-1 draw in Germany, but the Premier League winners, under the direction of Haaland, easily dispatched Leipzig back in Manchester to advance to the quarterfinals for the sixth consecutive year.
After a contentious handball call against Leipzig defender Benjamin Henrichs, and with City dominating the early going, Haaland gave the hosts the lead in the match in the 22nd minute.
Little over a minute later, with Leipzig still irritated about the penalty call, City seized total command.
After some pre-game encouragement from Pep Guardiola, Kevin De Bruyne returned to the starting lineup and was back to his best. He fired a spectacular left-footed shot against the crossbar, which Haaland then followed up by heading into an open net.
Haaland’s goal made him the youngest (22 years, 236 days) and fastest (25 games) player to score 30 goals in the Champions League.
The Norwegian, however, was far from finished.
On the last play of the first half, after Ruben Dias’ header had hit the post, Leipzig’s Amadou Haidara cleared the ball off the line but directly towards the City striker. Haaland once again displayed his predatory instincts.
It was Haaland’s first three-goal haul in the tournament since he made his debut with FC Salzburg in 2019. With the goal, Haaland joined Messi as the only players to record a first-half hat trick in a Champions League knockout encounter.
Yet, the second half still had a lot to offer.
In the 49th minute, Ilkay Gundogan temporarily stole some of the spotlight away from his colleague with a well-placed strike after a clever play with Jack Grealish, but the Haaland show was only briefly halted.
His fourth and fifth goals—his five-goal haul in 57 minutes—came in the 53rd and 57th minutes, both with predatory close-range finishes. It took Messi (84 minutes) and Luiz Adriano (82 minutes) longer to accomplish the same achievement.
Haaland did all he could to imply he may be the difference-maker to finally bring a Champions League trophy to the blue half of Manchester after agonisingly falling short for so many seasons in this tournament.
De Bruyne’s unstoppable goal in stoppage time gave City the opportunity to equal their biggest win in a UEFA tournament as they made it 7-0 and dealt Leipzig their worst-ever loss. Leipzig’s agony was complete.
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