Credit: Twitter
Manchester City ran riot at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night as they scored seven goals against German side RB Leipzig to qualify for the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals as striker Erling Haaland becomes the only third player to score five goals in the UCL after Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano. However, the fans are frustrated with City coach Pep Guardiola's decision to substitute the 22-year-old striker just after the one-hour mark into the match.
The Norwegian striker's historical performance helped him become the youngest player to score 30 UCL goals at the age of 22 years and 236 days, breaking PSG star Kylian Mbappe's record (22 years 352 days). Additionally, Haaland became the quickest player to score 30 UCL goals as he achieved the figure in just 25 games, which is nine games lesser than former fastest Rudd Van Nistelrooy (34).
While the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner, Lionel Messi played 84 minutes to score five goals in a single match, Adriano took 82 minutes to achieve the milestone. However, Haaland required less than 60 minutes to score five goals in a single UCL match. Now, Haaland and Messi are the only players to score five goals in a single match in the UCL knockouts.
Watch Haaland's five goals:
Spoil Sport: Fans react as Guardiola subbed off Haaland against Leipzig
Both, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland scored five goals in a single UCL match under Pep Guradiola, however, many fans claimed that the Spanish coach didn't want the Man City striker to break the Argentine's record and subbed him off in the 63rd minute.
After being substituted by Guardiola, Haaland said in an interview, "I’ve told Pep Guardiola when I went off: 'I would love to score a double hat-trick!' But what can I do? I really love this competition, I love the Champions League."
With their win over RB Leipzig, City joined the likes of Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Chelsea, Benfica Lisbon and Inter Milan to qualify for the UCL quarterfinals while the winners from Napoli vs Eintracht Frankfurt, and Real Madrid vs Liverpool will take the remaining two places.
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