Manchester City defeated; Erling Haaland is very awesome

There were doubts about his contribution to the game Manchester City and Erling Haaland He held the biggest exhibition of his sports career. With five goals, a historical record in Champions Leaguejust within reach of the best Leo Messi, Haaland guided passage of Manchester City against RB Leipzig (7-0) and terrifies other opponents in the most important stage of the tournament.

“People expect me to always score two or three goals,” said Kevin de Bruyne in the previous defence Haaland. And the Norwegian answered: Five goals, one poker, a number that in a competition with more than 60 years of history was achieved in only one game Messi in 7-1 against Bayer Leverkusen. Luiz Adriano also scored five against Bata Borisov, but that was in the group stage.

View from Haaland It almost made him forget that City had reached the quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive year. It overshadowed everything.

Between the 22nd and 57th minutes, that is, in 35 minutes, Haaland left an exhibition for the history books and destroyed and destroyed RB Leipzig. He didn’t score beautiful goals, but that’s not what this monster of numbers and goals doesn’t play for.

He started with a goal from the penalty spot, due to a questionable handball by Henricks, a minute later he pushed De Bruyne into the net, who hit the crossbar, to complete a hat trick in the first half by sending the ball inside the ball. that Ruben Dias crashed into a pole. His magnetism is such that at that 3:0, it was the defender who, trying to kick the ball, threw it at the Norwegian so that it slipped into the net. It’s not luck, it’s positioning, it’s instinct and knowing where to be at all times.

Haaland’s recital was interrupted only by a goal from Gungodan, who took advantage of Jack Grealish’s first assist in champions in a year, sit down the defender and define with a low and thrown shot.

But it didn’t take long for the Norwegian to rise to prominence again with a header from Blaswich that fell to his feet after a deflection. Another jump to the pan. Latest? Well, no. In the 57th minute, another dead ball reached Haaland’s feet; another dead ball ended up in the net.

Five goals, Haaland has more than half an hour left to become the first player in history champions to score six goals in a game, to even think about surpassing the 17 goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013-2014.

And when guardiola He brought three players into the band to make changes, the dream ended. Haaland looked sideways, fearing that Julián Álvarez’s presence would doom him and his worst fears came true. Guardiola took him off the pitch, to preserve his stature in a match that was over, and deprive him of the increase in barbarity. There was no bad face from Haaland, who hugged the Spanish coach and went to the bench smiling.

From then on, it didn’t matter anymore, even City lost their rhythm and concentration, as if the removal of Haaland made the game lose all interest. Except for De Bruyne, who rounded off a discount night with a superb strike from outside the penalty area.

City, after the best night of his career Haaland, returns to the quarterfinals for the sixth consecutive season and will be hyped on Friday.