dpa
Berlin
Erling Haaland became the third player to score five goals in one game in the Champions League era as Manchester City routed RB Leipzig 7-0 on Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals.
Haaland had a first-half hat-trick from a 22nd-minute penalty, a 24th-minute header and a third on the stroke of half-time, and added two more in quick succession in the 53rd and 57th.
Ilkay Gündogan in the 49th and Kevin de Bruyne in stoppage time scored the other goals as City equalled their biggest win in the competition - 7-0 over another German side, Schalke, in 2019 - and claimed an 8-1 aggregate triumph over the 2020 semi-finalists.
Haaland joined Lionel Messi (in Barcelona’s 7-1 against Bayer Leverkusen 2012) and Luiz Adriano (in Shakhtar Donetsk’s 7-0 at BATE Borisov 2014) with five goals in one Champions League match.
He was denied a possible record sixth when substituted amid a standing ovation in the 63rd.
“I told him [manager Pep Guardiola] I would love to score a double hat-trick but what can I do?” Haaland told BT Sport.
“It’s a big night. I’m really proud to play in the Champions League - I love this competition, as everybody knows. Five goals, to win 7-0 in this competition - I’m really happy,” he said.
‘m a bit blurry in my head so I don’t remember the goals. I remember shooting, not thinking.” “We worked on pressing in training yesterday. Especially at home, we have to put pressure on, we have to run. We are so good at getting the ball and going forward, especially when Kevin can get the ball in front of him, towards goal.”
Haaland now has 33 career goals from 25 games in the elite event for Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and City, with statisticians Opta saying no player has reached 30 goals in the event in such few games and at such a young age (of 22 years 236 days).
Ten of them have come this season, making him competition top scorer.
The Norwegian has 39 goals in 36 games in all competitions for City since his summer arrival, making him club record goalscorer in one season by beating the 38 from Tommy Johnson from 93 years ago in the 1928-29 season.
In the day’s other game, Inter Milan held on to their slender 1-0 first leg lead with a goalless draw at Porto to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2011 - with the Portuguese hosts denied by the post and crossbar in stoppage time.
The round of 16 is completed on Wednesday when title holders Real Madrid take a 5-2 advantage over Liverpool into their home leg, and Napoli are also at home leading Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0. Chelsea, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Benfica had qualified for the quarter-finals last week. The draw is on Friday.
De Bruyne returned from injury into City’s line-up and was involved in six goals on a memorable night at the Etihad where the hosts got a penalty after the video assistant referee had seen Benjamin Henrichs handle the ball.
Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich chose the right side but Haaland’s spot kick into the right corner was too fierce and precise to be stopped.
Two minutes on Haaland pressed Blaswich to help City win the ball, and headed home for 2-0 off de Bruyne’s shot against the crossbar, and he completed his hat-trick when Haidara’s attempt to clear hit the Norwegian and rolled over the line.
It got worse for Leipzig when rampant City scored three more goals in the span of eight minutes: Gündogan’s low shot and two more from Haaland after Blaswich had saved initial efforts from the Norwegian and Manuel Akanji, respectively.
De Bruyne then capped his great performance by curling the final goal into the top corner two minutes into added on time.
“It doesn’t feel good. I don’t want to look for excuses. It hurts.
City did well, they have a fantastic team. We have to be honest: we did not have a chance,” Leipzig midfielder Emil Forsberg admitted.
Needing to make up a 1-0 deficit, Porto started with determination against Inter whose goalkeeper Andre Onana just managed to turn a drive from Matheus Uribe around the right post.
He also saved well from Stephen Eustaquio’s near post effort as Porto were frustrated by Inter’s defence.
But the hosts almost forced extra time when Mehdi Taremi hit the left post and Marko Grujic’s header hit the bar within seconds deep into stoppage time before Porto’s Pepe was sent off.
