Awesome Erling Haaland hits five as Manchester City demolish RB Leipzig

It was the moment when RB Leipzig’s shattered players could exhale. There were 62 minutes on the clock and a bright, red No 9 on the Manchester City substitutes’ board appeared. For the German club, the ordeal was over. Erling Haaland was coming off.

As City’s wrecking ball of a centre-forward departed, a broad smile on his lips, there was a slightly awed burst of applause from all sides, Pep Guardiola joining in on the touchline. Haaland had previously scored four hat-tricks in City colours during a season in which he has relentlessly dismantled records. But five in one game? And a Champions League last-16 tie, at that?

This was extra special and everybody knew it. When Haaland had scored his fifth and City’s sixth, extending the fingers and thumb of one hand and asking the fans to count them, his father, Alfie, celebrating wildly in the stands, it gave him 39 goals for the season; a new club record – taking him past Tommy Johnson’s 38 from 1928-29.

What this masterclass of bullying power, hard running and lethal shooting did was send a message across Europe. Guardiola has been getting closer to the holy grail of a Champions League win with City, a final and a semi-final in the past two seasons. With Haaland now on board, the possibilities are tantalising. City equalled their record win in the competition – the 7-0 against Schalke from 2019 – when Kevin De Bruyne curled home a stoppage-time beauty. The occasion was transcended by his teammate.

Guardiola’s Champions League story at City seems to flash before everybody’s eyes on these kind of nights – majoring on all of the heartbreak in the knock-out rounds – and it had done in a literal sense before kick-off, the big screen including footage of him looking sad after