Erling Haaland scored five goals as Manchester City demolished RB Leipzig 7-0 (8-1 on aggregate) to book a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday night.
Pep Gurdaiola’s troops needed to be at their best in the second leg, which was evenly poised following a 1-1 stalemate in the first leg in Germany.
They needed just 22 minutes to open the scoring. Benjamin Henrichs handled in the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
After a video assistant referee (VAR) check, the decision stood and Haaland cooly-converted from the spot to make it 1-0.
The big striker got his and City’s second within a minute, when he reacted quickly to a rebound after Kevin Debryune’s header had hit the crossbar.
In the process, Haaland became the fastest and youngest player to reach 30 Champions League goals.
The Norwegian got his hattrick on the stroke of half time as City cruised to 3-0 lead at the interval.
The Cityzens came back for the second half and continued from where they left in terroriszing the Leipzig defence.
Ilkay Gundogan made it 4-0 four minutes after the restart when he found the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Haaland got his fourth and CCity’s fifth in 54th minute when he reacted quickly again to nod home his own rebound off a Bernado Silva assist.
The former Borrusia Dortmund man made it 6-0 with his fifth goal of the game three minutes later when he hammered home Manuel Akanji’s effort, which was initially saved.
DeBruyne then made it 7-0 with a stunning effort from outside the box in the 90th minute.
Haaland is the first player since Lionel Messi in 2012, to score five goals in a single Champions League game.