Champions League is music to Erling Haaland's ears as Man City begin Euro quest at Sevilla

In the lead-up to his debut in club football’s most glamorous competition, Erling Haaland turned up the volume on his car stereo.

Blasting out, in earshot of his captain as he drove to training at the Austrian club RB Salzburg, was the anthem played before kick-off at every Champions League fixture.

Haaland makes his own music sometimes, as part of a band he formed with boyhood friends. But he lists the Uefa anthem among his favourite tracks.

It has been an exceptional stimulant, too, for a footballer consuming record after record for prolific and prodigious goalscoring.

On that European Cup debut, three years ago, the 19-year-old had barely finished hearing the last bars of the anthem when he registered his first Champions League goal.

There were not yet two minutes on the clock as Salzburg opened their group phase against Genk of Belgium, Haaland accepting a neat through-ball from Takumi Minamino to open his account. By half time, he had scored a hat-trick, with a classic left-footed finish, breaking away from the nearest defender, sandwiched between two goals with his right foot.

Haaland was just 19 then. By the time he had turned 20, he was into double figures in the competition. He followed his hat-trick against Genk with a goal at Anfield, turning a 3-0 deficit to 3-3 in a seven-goal thriller that eventually swung Liverpool’s way.

Erling Haaland celebrates scoring for RB Slazburg against Genk in the Champions League in 2019. Reuters

He scored at Napoli’s San Paolo, and struck a brace in the home meeting with the Italian club. By the time he completed his transfer to Borussia Dortmund that winter, he had eight goals from six group stage games.

He promptly scored twice on his European debut for Dortmund, against