ERLING Haaland was the star man tonight as Manchester City thrashed RB Leipzig 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium to advance to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals 8-1 on aggregate.
The 22-year-old Norway striker set new scoring records by netting an incredible five goals in the match to steer City past the German side.
Haaland has now become the fastest and youngest player ever to reach 30 goals in the UEFA Champions League, beating Kylian Mbappe’s record.
He is also the youngest player to score five times in a single game in Europe’s elite club competition, joining Lionel Messi and Brazil forward Luiz Adriano as the only players to ever do it.
Haaland began the scoring by converting a controversial penalty in the 22nd minute and made it 2-0 two minutes later with a header after Kevin De Bruyne’s shot crashed off the crossbar.
He completed his hat-trick just before half-time from point-blank range and added two more goals in the 53rd and 57th minutes.
Ilkay Gundogan and De Bruyne netted the other goals as City equalled their biggest-ever Champions League win. Their other 7-0 win in the competition came in 2019 against another German club, Schalke.
Haaland is now on 39 goals for the season in all competitions, the first Manchester City player to reach that figure in a single campaign. His five hat-tricks are three more than any other player in the big five leagues of Europe.
In the other Champions League round of 16 clash tonight, Inter Milan held FC Porto to a 0-0 draw in Portugal to advance 1-0 on aggregate.
Nigeria left-back Zaidu Sanusi started for Porto and lasted 85 minutes as the Portuguese champions failed to overturn the 1-0 deficit from the first leg in Milan three weeks ago.
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