Manchester City’s Erling Braut Haaland celebrates scoring his fifth goal in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 match against RB Leipzig. Photo Credit: Reuters
Erling Haaland became the third player in Champions League history to score five goals in a game as he handed Manchester City an incredible 7-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig in the second leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday.
The win, which equaled City’s biggest European win, put Pep Guardiola’s side through to the quarter-finals 8–1 on aggregate, with Ilkay Gundijk and Kevin De Bruyne also on target for City in a disastrous display at the Etihad Stadium.
It was a record-breaking night for the 22-year-old Haaland, who became Manchester City’s top goalscorer in a season as he scored 39 goals for the campaign, surpassing Tommy Johnson’s mark from 1928–29.
He also became the youngest player to reach 30 Champions League goals as he moved to 33, the youngest ever to hit that mark in 25 games.
“It’s a big night. First of all, I’m proud to play in this competition, I love it. Five goals. To win 7-0 is amazing,” he said.
He said, “My biggest strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? There are a lot of goals today, I didn’t think. I was trying to get it in the back of the net.” “A lot of it is sharpening in the mind and not the goalie trying to put it out there.”
Haaland indicated he was in for a big night with a quick-fire brace, slotting home a penalty in the 22nd minute after Benjamin Henriques was handled in the box following a VAR review, which showed the Norwegian knee slide and Celebrating with Salute. ,
He found the net again 19 seconds after kickoff.
Haaland pressured the Leipzig keeper with a poor clearance that fell to De Bruyne. The Belgian’s shot came back off the crossbar and bounced home for Hollande.
His fifth hat-trick in all competitions this season came in first-half stoppage time when Ruben Dias’s header collided with the line and Haaland raced to head it into the net.
“Fantastic,” said Guardiola on Haaland’s night. “His competitive mindset is huge, he is out there and yes, he scored five goals which is not easy.”
Gundijk made it 4–0 in the 49th, before Haaland followed up his history-making night with two more from close range in the 53rd and 57th minutes, driving in a low finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Guardiola substituted the Norwegian in the 62nd minute, perhaps further humiliating Leipzig, but denying Haaland the opportunity to score a record-breaking sixth in a single Champions League game.
“I told him (Guardiola) that I would love to score a double hat-trick but what can I do?” Haaland said.
De Bruyne curled in a stunning seventh goal for good measure seconds before the final whistle.
Manchester City have never hoisted the Champions League trophy, coming closest in 2021 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 kickoff that Haaland would present a formidable challenge, and he was right.
“He had a great night. He was very hungry,” Rose said. “He scored goals with feet and heads, won other balls, made deep runs. It looked really simple.”