Erling Haaland breaks Manchester City Champions League record
Erling Haaland broke Manchester City’s single-season scoring record with his fifth goal of the game in their Champions League round-of-16 second leg against RB Leipzig on Tuesday.
Haaland, 22, now has 39 goals in all competitions for City this season, surpassing the mark of 38 set by Tommy Johnson during the 1928-29 season.
The Norway international became the fastest player to reach 30 goals in the competition when putting the English champions 2-0 up against RB Leipzig in the round-of-16 second leg at Etihad Stadium.
At 22 years, 236 days old, he is also the youngest player to reach that landmark, surpassing Kylian Mbappe, who was 22 years, 352 days when he scored his 30th Champions League goal.
But Haaland wasn’t done then, he scored three more before 57 minutes to reach his total of five and put his side up 6-0 on the night before being substituted by Pep Guardiola shortly past the hour mark.
The hosts went on to win the match 7-0, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring twice as Man City advanced to the quarterfinals on the back of an 8-1 aggregate win.
The stellar night for Haaland put him in elite company, as only Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano have scored five goals in a single Champions League match. Haaland is also just the third player to score 10 goals or more in a single European campaign, with Messi having done it five times and Cristiano Ronaldo seven.
Perhaps more remarkable is that Haaland still has 11 Premier League games left to play, and with City also alive in the FA Cup and the Champions League the records could continue to fall.
Twenty-eight of Haaland’s goals have come in England’s top flight, where he has an excellent chance to overtake joint single-season scoring leaders Alan Shearer and Andy Cole at 34 apiece.
