City sends a strongly worded message to the elders of the 'old continent'
Haaland "terrifies" Europe in one run
Haaland jumps high while scoring one of his 5 header goals against RB Leipzig. Reuters
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Presented «sniper» Norwegian Erling Haaland, the day before yesterday, one of the matches «legendary» in the history of the Champions League, when he led his team Manchester City to a sweeping victory over the German Leipzig seven clean in the second leg of the final price (8-1 on aggregate), the Norwegian had a historic quintet, to lead his team to the quarter-finals of the most famous competition in European football, and sends a strong message to the senior 'old continent' that City is coming strongly to achieve the most prominent title absent from his coffers.
During one half against Leipzig, Haaland terrified Europe with unprecedented numbers, and then completed the match with other numbers during which he surpassed the top stars of world football, such as Saint-Germain star, Argentine Lionel Messi, and his French teammate Kylian Mbappe, among other stars.
Haaland is always in the right place at the right time, with his vitality, speed and accuracy that make him different from others. Haaland started the half with a left-footed penalty, then scored a second goal with the right, added a goal with a beautiful header, and scored a hat-trick after touching the ball only 23 times, and through five shots on goal, which shows how brilliant and accurate Haaland is in exploiting half chances.
This was not the only record that Haaland broke, as he scored his 30th goal in his 25th Champions League match, an important record, which made Haaland surpass the previous record that was in the name of former Dutch star Van Nistelrooy, who scored his 30th goal in his 34th match, in contrast to that achieved the same number by Barcelona striker Lewandowski in his 46th match.
Outperform Messi and Mbappe
It was remarkable in Haaland's numbers against Leipzig that he surpassed a group of the most prominent football stars in the history of European champions, led by Saint-Germain stars Messi and Mbappe, as he became the youngest player to reach the barrier of 30 goals at the age of 22 years and 236 days, surpassing Mbappe, who was on this throne at the age of 22 years and 352 days. While Messi achieved this feat at the age of 23 years and 131 days.
L'Equipe rating 10
In one season, Haaland achieved what he was unable to major stars in the history of world football, as he received this season twice the «10th rating» from one of the most famous newspapers specialized in sports in Europe, the French «L'Equipe», as historically only 13 players received a full evaluation, but only one of them has already received it twice in his career, which is Messi, while Haaland received it twice in one season, the first when he led City to tear the net Man United 6-3, as he scored « Hat-trick" and two assists, while in the Leipzig game he scored five of the seven goals in just 63 minutes.
Guardiola: I replaced Haaland so he wouldn't get 'bored'
Man City coach Guardiola confirmed that he decided to "replace the Norwegian star Haaland in the second half, so as not to get bored of setting records at once," and confirmed in a press statement jokingly in response to Haaland's request to stay to score more goals: "His life would be boring if he broke all the numbers before celebrating his 23rd birthday."
The Spanish coach considered that Haaland has adapted to City's style of play and has become an integrated striker who does not only score goals, but participates in play, and said in this regard: "He scored five goals today, and I think he touched the ball 30 or 35 times. That's what we're looking for because we think that when you play more defensively and offensively and when you get the ball, you're more precise."
The Norwegian 'sniper' became the youngest player in the history of the Champions League to reach the 30th goal.
Haaland scored a hat-trick in one half after touching the ball only 23 times, and from 5 shots on goal.