Manchester City striker Erling Haaland reaches Lionel Messi territory after his insane Champions League performance against RB Leipzig on Tuesday.
In the Round of 16 clash at Etihad Stadium, Haaland treated the home fans with goals galore. The Norwegian scorer showed no mercy to their German rivals and proceeded to hit five goals as Manchester City took the 7-0 win. Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne added one each to the score, giving Leipzig no chance at all.
Many expected the showdown to be a tight encounter considering that the first leg of the match ended 1-1. Unfortunately for Leipzig, Haaland was just too good–they should have known after playing against him for years when he was still in Dortmund.
In the process, Haaland made plenty of history. Not only is he the third player in Champions League history to have five goals in a single game–joining Messi (2011-12) and Luiz Adriano (2014-15)–but he is also the youngest player to reach 30 UCL goals.
Erling Haaland, who is 22 years and 236 days old, broke Kylian Mbappe's record. The French star was 22 years and 352 days old when he reached 30 Champions League goals, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Overall in European Cup history, Haaland is just the fourth player with at least five goals in the Round of 16 or anything equivalent to that. Messi, Soren Lerby and Gerd Muller are the only other players to do it on a similar stage.
While it has been a rather controversial year for Man City, Haaland is certainly giving fans a reason to be happy and cheer for the team-at least for now.
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