Erling Haaland made history with five goals, including a first-half hat trick, to send Manchester City into the quarterfinals in emphatic fashion with a 7-0 win over RB Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. City won 8-1 on aggregate.
Haaland was at his superhuman best as he joined Lionel Messi as the only players to score five times in a Champions League knockout stage game, and one of only three players (along with Luiz Adriano) to score five in any Champions League match.
His record-equaling haul also saw the Norwegian marksman move onto 39 goals for the season to break City’s single-season scoring record previously set by Tommy Johnson in 1928-29.
“It’s a big night. Firstly, I’m proud to play in this competition, I love it. Five goals. To win 7-0 is amazing.
“My super strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? A lot of goals today, I didn’t think. I was just trying to get it into the back of the net,” he added. “A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not,” he said.
The round-of-16 tie was evenly poised after a 1-1 draw in Germany but the Premier League champions, led by Haaland, made light work of Leipzig back in Manchester to reach the quarterfinals for the sixth straight season.
The goal meant Haaland joined Messi as the only players to score a first-half hat trick in a Champions League knockout game and was his first three-goal haul in the competition since he made his debut with FC Salzburg in 2019.
