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.
Erling Haaland didn’t seem too upset with Pep Guardiola after he was subbed off
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.
WHAT NEXT? After securing their place in the quarter-finals will an eventual 7-0 victory, City will next be in action in the FA Cup against Burnley on Saturday, where Pep Guardiola will come up against his former player Vincent Kompany in the dugout.
Erling Haaland continues to not only beat – but demolish goalscoring records after firing home five against a hapless RB Leipzig including a first-half hat-trick
Erling Haaland’s historic first season in England with Manchester City got even more ridiculous with a five-goal Champions League haul – including a first-half treble.
The 22-year-old made the most of some questionable RB Leipzig goalkeeping to take his tally for the season to 39 goals from his first 36 appearances for the club.
Erling Haaland got off the mark from the spot and scored again a minute later (Image: Getty Images)
In doing so, Haaland beat a 94-year record held by Tommy Johnson’s 38 goals in a season for City, as well as becoming the youngest player to ever score 30 Champions League goals.
With City going into the game 1-1 on aggregate, Haaland’s goals as well as an Ilkay Gundogan strike and a Kevin de Bruyne screamer made it 7-0 and 8-1 across the two legs.
To make his beating of the club record even more impressive, he still has a possible 19 games to go this season to add to his tally.
Having netted five goals in 35 minutes before and after the break, Pep Guardiola subbed his star striker off on 63 minutes before he had a chance to beat the record for most goals in a Champions League game.
Erling Haaland had his hat-trick before half-time with more to come (Image: Getty Images)
With Lionel Messi scoring five against Bayer Leverkusen back in 2012, Luiz Adriano hit five against BATE Borisov for Shakhtar Donetsk two years later.
Haaland joined City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer following a battle for his signature after 86 goals across his 89 games in Germany.
Erling Haaland grabbed his fifth to equal the record in a Champions League game (Image: Getty Images)
The Norway international would choose to join his boyhood club under Guardiola, with the Spaniard leading them to four Premier League titles from the last five seasons.
The quest for Haaland will now be to guide the club above Arsenal in the table, with the Gunners five points clear with just 11 games to go.
Source: goal.com;
