Erling Haaland could not be stopped. The Norwegian goalscorer poured in goals as his Manchester City manhandled Leipzig in the Champions League. Haaland scored five goals as City won the round of 16 7–0.
Leipzig nurtured dreams of promotion after 1-1 at home in Germany. The second leg was a nightmare for the Bundesliga third.
Erling Haaland was impossible to stop and already halfway into the first half he had scored both 1–0 and 2–0. Those goals meant he made Champions League history: He was up to 30 goals in just 25 games. The previous record was Ruud van Niistelrooy’s 30 goals in 34 games.
Haaland punctuated the game definitively by scoring 3-0 in first-half stoppage time.
In the second half, he completed his perfect night by scoring both 5–0 and 6–0. He was even amazed himself by his goal fireworks.
– It’s a fantastic feeling, it’s impossible to describe. I’m happy, that’s what I am, he says to Norwegian TV2.
Guardiola: “Now he has a goal for the future”
Haaland is the third player of all time to score five goals in a Champions League clash. Only Lionel Messi (for Barcelona against Leverkusen in 2012) and Luiz Adriano (for Shakhtar Donetsk against Bate Borisov in 2014) had managed it before.
Worth noting is that the two needed 84 and 82 minutes respectively to reach their five goals. Haaland made his five in 57.
The Norwegian looked disappointed when he was replaced after 63 minutes. He told manager Pep Guardiola that he would have loved to score a double hat-trick.
Guardiola explained his decision with a twinkle in his eye after the match.
– If he had reached this milestone at the age of 22, he would have been bored for the rest of his life. Now he has a goal for the future. That’s why I replaced him. I didn’t know that it was Lionel Messi who had the record, I found out after the match, says Guardiola to Norwegian TV2.
Erling Haaland’s record night
Youngest with 30 Champions League goals:
Erling Haaland – 22 years, 7 months and 21 days
Kylian Mbappé – 22 years, 11 months and 18 days
Lionel Messi – 23 years, 4 months and 9 days
Number of games to 30 Champions League goals:
Erling Haaland – 25 matches
Eusebio – 28 matcher
Alfredo Di Stéfano – 31 matches
From Champions League debut to 30 goals:
Erling Haaland – 3 years, 5 months and 25 days
Ruud van Nistelrooy – 3 years, 6 months and 23 days
Alfredo Di Stéfano – 4 years, 1 month and 27 days
Goals in a season for Manchester City:
Erling Haaland (2022/23) – 39 goals
Tommy Johnson (1928/29) – 38 goals
Tuesday night’s second round of 16 between Porto and Inter ended 0-0. That meant Inter advanced to the quarter-finals thanks to a 1–0 win in Milan in the first leg.
In addition to Manchester City and Inter, Chelsea, Benfica, Bayern Munich and Milan are also ready for the quarter-final stage. The last two quarter-finalists are revealed tonight as Napoli take on Frankfurt and Real Madrid face Liverpool.
