by Samuel A. March 18, 2023
Manchester City cruised to the Champions League’s last eight on Tuesday night, after taking out their German opponents in a 7-0 thrashing, but one name that headlined the whole course of the game was of course, Erling Haaland, who put five past the visitors in less than an hour.
RB Leipzig came to Manchester, believing they could cause a shock after earning a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Germany, but never got the chance to upset the Premier League Champions. The side from Germany does However have some right to be angry about the officiating of the match, with some harsh decisions going against them. Supporters inside the stadium didn’t know what was happening when Slovenian referee, Slavko Vincic began trotting over to the pitchside monitor to look at a potential penalty that no one else had spotted. Even after the review, it seemed very harsh to judge that Benjamin Henrichs had handled Rodri’s header. Haaland didn’t care and scored his 35th goal of the season from the penalty spot and, while the remnants of RB Leipzig’s protests were still being aimed at Vincic, the Norwegian got his second of the night. He further netted a third one the cusp of halftime from a rebound after Ruben Dias was denied from close range by Blaswich, who was unlucky all night. The Norwegian added two more from close range after Gundogan added a fourth, 2 minutes into the second half, and was a little unhappy about being subbed off early. Kevin De Bruyne made it seven after scoring a long range stunner to crown an emphatic win on the night. Haaland’s five goals in 57 minutes was the quickest a player has ever needed to net five in the UCL, and the third five goal-a-game performance in the history of the Champions League.
Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola, when asked why he subbed off Erling in the 62nd minute, said “ If he achieved this milestone at 22, his life would be boring”.
