Record-breaking Erling Haaland delivered one of the most clinical Champions League performances ever as Manchester City ran riot to breeze into the quarter-finals in their joint-biggest European win.
The remarkable Norwegian striker became just the third player ever to notch five goals in a single Champions League game as RB Leipzig were blown away 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium in the emphatically one-sided second leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday night, losing 8-1 on aggregate having managed an initial 1-1 draw in Germany three weeks ago.
Haaland – the youngest player to reach 30 goals in Europe’s elite club competition, beating Kylian Mbappe – joins only Lionel Messi in terms of players to have scored so many in one knockout fixture, having also matched and then surpassed City’s single-season scoring record on an unforgettable night.
Tommy Johnson’s mark of 38 goals had stood for almost a century since the 1928-29 season, but Haaland’s five against Leipzig puts him on 39 already in an incredible first campaign since joining City from Borussia Dortmund last summer. He’s achieved that number in just 36 appearances.
Haaland has five hat-tricks already for City and 17 for his career aged just 22, making a mockery of the narrative that City are a better team when he is not the dominant focus up front.
Ilkay Gundogan was also on the scoresheet in a brutal drubbing that was finished off by a special strike from Kevin De Bruyne in second-half stoppage time.
