Erling Haaland’s quick-fire hat-trick for Manchester City against RB Leipzig on Tuesday broke a goalscoring record previously held by Kylian Mbappe.
WHAT HAPPENED? The big Norwegian scored a first-half hat-trick as City took control of their Champions League last-16 early on at the Etihad. While Haaland’s efforts will help his team progress further in the competition, it also represented an impressive individual feat. At 22 years and 236 days old, the City forward became the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the competition’s history.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: That puts him ahead of Kylian Mbappe, who previously held the record at 22 years and 352 days old, both of whom are far ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. On the night, Haaland also celebrated becoming the fastest player to reach the 30-goal milestone, doing so in just 25 matches, beating Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous record of 30 games.
AND WHAT’S MORE: Not content with breaking two records, Haaland grabbed a fourth goal early in the second half. That strike drew him level with Tommy Johnson for the most goals scored in a single season for Man City (38). His fifth goal, netted just a few minutes later, saw him take that record outright. With that finish, he became just the third player in Champions League history to net five times in a single game. He was subbed soon after.
Haaland’s life would be ‘boring’ had he set record, says Guardiola
Erling Haaland virtually wrote his own record book for Manchester City against RB Leipzig on a thrilling night at the Etihad Stadium, but manager Pep Guardiola spoiled what might have been one more.
Haaland scored five goals as City steamrolled their German opponents into submission in a 7-0 rout to put them into the Champions League quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive season before Guardiola substituted him in the 63rd minute.
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No player in Champions League history has scored six goals in a game.
“If he achieved this milestone, the record, at 22, will be boring, his life, so now he’ll have a target to do it in the future, here and everywhere,” Guardiola said. “So that’s why I make a substitution.”
Haaland became the third player in history to score five goals in a game, matching Luiz Adriano, who achieved the feat in 2014 for Shakhtar Donetsk, and Lionel Messi, in 2012 for Barcelona — with Guardiola as coach.
“I didn’t know with Messi when it was happening against Leverkusen, they told me in the first interview,” Guardiola said.
“But I made a substitution (Tuesday) because normally when the game is over, I want to… let them play, as many players as possible.
“Haaland equalled Messi’s record, but he did it in 60 minutes, it’s different. Who knows if he would have played 90 minutes?”
Haaland was a six-foot-four-inch bulldozer in front of the net all night, narrowly missing several other excellent chances in a victory that secured an 8-1 win on aggregate.
“I told (Guardiola) I would love to score a double hat-trick but what can I do?,” said Haaland, who was hauled off minutes after his fifth goal.
Leipzig manager Marco Rose said he knew his team might be in for a stiff challenge against Haaland.
“He had a great night. He was so hungry,” Rose said. “He scored goals with the foot and head, won second balls, deep runs. It looked really simple.
“He took the ball from the referee, that tells you it was a special night for him. Congratulations to Erling.”
Haaland has 10 goals in the Champions League this season, and 33 in his career, reaching the 30-goal mark in 25 games, the fewest ever. He is also the youngest ever to reach that mark.
Guardiola has won nine major trophies at Manchester City but European success has eluded the Spaniard at the club. The closest they came to winning the Champions League was a 1-0 loss to Chelsea in the 2021 final.
How much would it mean to finally lift the trophy this season?
“I have three idols in life: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Julia Roberts,” Guardiola told puzzled reporters.
“Julia Roberts came to England a few years ago in the period when Man United were not good, we were better, and she came to Man United, she didn’t come to see us. Even if I win, it cannot make up for Julia Roberts not coming to see us.”
