With a 7-0 victory over RB Leipzig on Tuesday, Erling Haaland tied a Champions League record with a five-goal performance to help Manchester City advance to the quarterfinals.
With an overall score of 8-1, Pep Guardiola's squad went to the round of eight for the sixth consecutive year, and Haaland set a new club record with 39 goals.
Haaland claimed that scoring goals was his superpower. Most of it involves thinking quickly and placing the ball where the goalkeeper is not.
Although Abu Dhabi-owned City has yet to win the Champions League, they have never had a striker of Haaland's calibre who could make the difference in the championship round.
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At age 22, he has already scored 33 goals in 25 games in the top club competition in Europe.
First of all, I'm honoured to participate in this tournament; I adore it," continued Haaland. "Five aims! A 7-0 victory is incredible.
The snowy conditions were more akin to Haaland's native country, but City did not buckle under the pressure and kept its hopes of qualifying for the Champions League alive.
Three days after just a 1–1 tie in eastern Germany, the match was tenuously balanced, but an injury-depleted Leipzig team never seemed like a match for their star-studded opponents.
"That was an amazing performance," said the Leipzig coach Marco Rose.
"At no point during the game were we ever given any kind of control by them. We are disappointed at the outcome, but they earned it so much more".
Although held in reserve for City's 1-0 Premier League victory over Crystal Palace at the weekend, Kevin De Bruyne was at his best after being reinstated to the starting lineup.
After three minutes, Ilkay Gundogan should have taken the lead thanks to De Bruyne's enticing cross.
Fortunately, a handball against Benjamin Henrichs was seen by VAR before City's first goal, resulting in a penalty that neither the team nor the spectators even observed.
- Denied Record Opportunity -
On his sixth penalty of the year, Haaland blasted low to Janis Blaswich's left to keep City's spotless record from the spot.
Two minutes later, Haaland set up De Bruyne, who smacked a shot against the crossbar before using all his speed and strength to head in the rebound. The score was now 2-0.
Ruben Dias' stunning header of Jack Grealish's corner onto the post gave Haaland three before the break. Amadou Haidara attempted to clear the ball, but it hit City's nine and went into the goal.
Four minutes into the second half, Gundogan's elegant finish into the far corner insulted Leipzig's injury before Haaland began shattering records.
Firstly, he blasted in Tommy Johnson's record of 38 goals for City in the 1928–1929 season, matched on the second try after Blaswich blocked his first header.
With three months left in the season, Haaland broke a previous record when he snatched up another rebound after Blaswich had saved Manuel Akanji's attempt.
In the process, he tied the record of five goals in a Champions League match held by Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano.
But with 25 minutes left, Guardiola replaced his star striker with Julian Alvarez, denying him the chance to set a new record.
Guardiola jokingly said of the change, "If he achieves all these milestones at 22, his life would be boring.
However, De Bruyne was allowed to make the decisive strike in stoppage time when he curled an excellent shot into the top corner.
