MANCHESTER, England — Erling Haaland scored five times as Manchester City beat RB Leipzig 7-0 to book their place in the Champions League quarter-finals.
City reached the last eight for the sixth consecutive year after Haaland found the net five times in under an hour at the Etihad Stadium. Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne were also on the scoresheet in the rout.
Haaland is the third player to score five goals in a Champions League game after Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano while breaking City’s single-season goalscoring record less than a year after joining the club from Borussia Dortmund.
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Quick reaction
1. Haaland’s five breaks mark Mbappe and Messi
The numbers generated by Erling Haaland in his first season in England are staggering and they are only getting more impressive. After scoring five times against RB Leipzig – including his fifth hat-trick of the season – the Norwegian now has 39 goals, already one more than City’s single-season record of 38 set by Tommy Johnson in 1928-29. It’s only March and with City still in three competitions, Haaland could easily top 60 at the end of the campaign.
His second goal against RB Leipzig – a close-range header after harassing Janis Blaswich in an error – made him the youngest player to reach 30 Champions League goals at 22 years and 236 days, ahead of Kylian Mbappe (22 years, 352 days) and Lionel Messi (23 years, 131 days).
Pep Guardiola said ahead of this week that games against Crystal Palace, RB Leipzig and Burnley will decide their season. Two games down, and Haaland made the key contribution in both. He was signed by City to decide crucial games at the end of the season and that’s what he does. Burnley should be worried ahead of their visit here in the FA Cup on Saturday.
2. The VAR examination allows the valves to be opened
RB Leipzig came to Manchester thinking they could cause a shock after drawing 1-1 in the first leg in Germany, but never had the chance to make the night edgy for City. Fans inside the stadium didn’t know what was happening when Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic started trotting towards the pitchside monitor to watch a potential penalty that no one else had spotted.
Even after the review, it seemed very hard to judge that Benjamin Henrichs had handled Rodri’s header. Haaland didn’t care and scored his 35th goal of the season from the penalty spot and, with remnants of RB Leipzig’s protests still aimed at Vincic, the Norwegian got his second of the night.
Within two minutes midway through the first half, RB Leipzig’s game plan was in tatters and at 3-1 on aggregate, they found themselves facing an almost impossible task. By the time Haaland sealed his hat-trick in first-half stoppage time, the game was over and the second half was little more than a training session for Guardiola and his players. .
City were big favorites going into the game and RB Leipzig would have probably lost anyway, especially with Haaland in this form, but coach Marco Rose has every right to think his side weren’t helped by the officials. .
3. Aside from Bayern, the best teams in the Bundesliga are given a hard lesson
RB Leipzig are out, joining Borussia Dortmund in being knocked out by a Premier League side after being ousted by Chelsea. Bundesliga top Bayern Munich are still involved after knocking out Paris Saint-Germain, but the rest of Germany are catching up with big money in England.
RB Leipzig haven’t made it past the last 16 since reaching the semi-finals in 2020, while Dortmund’s best is three quarter-finals since reaching the final in 2013. That could have been different for RB Leipzig if Christopher Nkunku had been available for more than 24 minutes across the two games, but the French striker is a good example of why Leipzig and Dortmund will struggle to consistently feature in the top eight from Europe.
Nkunku heads to Chelsea this summer while Dortmund’s best player Jude Bellingham could follow Haaland to City if they can fend off competition from Real Madrid and Liverpool. It’s hard to catch up when you’re constantly having the rug pulled from under you.
Best and Worst Performers
BEST: Erling Haaland, ST, Man City
To score five times in a Champions League knockout game is a chilling feat.
BEST: John Stones, DF, Man City
Played at right-back and midfield and excelled in both positions.
BEST: Kevin De Bruyne, MF, Man City
Criticized by Guardiola in the build-up to the game but scored a superb seventh goal.
PIRE: Janis Blaswich, GK, RB Leipzig
He made a bad mistake when RB Leipzig conceded a quick second goal.
Worst: Timo Werner, Striker, RB Leipzig
The former Chelsea striker had a night to forget on his return to England.
PIRE: Josko Gvardiol, DF, RB Leipzig
Facing one of the best strikers in the world in Haaland, one of the best young defenders saw his side concede five goals in less than an hour.
Highlights and Moments
Good awareness of the situation by Haaland, who scored his second goal (after the first from a controversial penalty) when he found himself in the right place following Kevin De Bruyne’s belt bouncing off the woodwork.
TWO GOALS IN TWO MINUTES. ERLING HAALAND WITH ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY #UCL BUT. ? pic.twitter.com/rg7EMukU9j
– CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) 14 mars 2023
But De Bruyne got his on the evening, saving it for the final seconds of the game with a nice curling shot.
Kevin De Bruyne saves the best for last, it’s 7. ? pic.twitter.com/Q1Lz71tljt
– CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) 14 mars 2023
After the game: What managers and players said
Erling Haaland, on his five-goal night: “My super strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? A lot of goals today, I didn’t think about it. I was just trying to put him in the back of the net… A big part is being quick in the mind and trying to put him where the goalkeeper isn’t. »
Haaland was replaced early by BT Sport: “I told Pep when I left that I would like to score a double hat-trick but what can I do! »
Key stats (provided by ESPN Stats & Information research)
– Pep Guardiola coached Haaland and Messi during their five-goal performances in the Champions League. Messi happened in a round of 16 game against Bayer Leverkusen in 2011-12.
– Manchester City equal their own record for the biggest margin of victory against a German team in the Champions League (7-0 against Schalke in the 2018-19 round of 16).
– It is the seventh time that a German team has conceded more than 6 goals in the Champions League. Pep Guardiola coached four of those games (one at Barcelona and three at Man City).
Following
Manchester City: Host Burnley in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday ahead of the FIFA international window. They return to action on April 1 against Liverpool in a league game.
RB Leipzig : At VfL Bochum on Saturday in the Bundesliga before the break. Host Mainz 05 on April 1.
