Haaland sets Man City record; breaks UCL records of Messi with five Champions League goals

Erling Haaland set a new Champions League record after scoring five times against RB Leipzig in the return leg of UCL at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday.

Published : Mar 15, 2023 02:03 IST - 3 MINS READ

Manchester City’s Erling Braut Haaland celebrates scoring their second goal in the Champions League against RB Leipzig. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Erling Haaland set a new Champions League record after scoring five times against RB Leipzig in the return leg of UCL at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday.

He has scored more goals vs RB Leipzig in the second leg than Darwin Nunez, Lionel Messi (both 4), Karim Benzema, Son Heung-Min and Kai Havertz (all 2) have in the Champions League this season.

The Nowegian got an opportunity to score in the 22nd minute when a hand-ball by Benjamin Henrichs, after a VAR check, was given a penalty for City, which Haaland converted with ease.

In the very next minute, he scored when Kevin De Bruyne’s shot, after hitting the post, was struck into the net by him. Just when City looked to see the first-half off, Ruben Dias’ header, saved by Janis Blaswich, was again tapped into the net by the usual suspect, City’s No. 9.

WATCH: WHERE GOAL MACHINE ERLING HAALAND WAS MADE

The striker scored another in the second half, when City’s corner after a couple of saves by Blaswich fell on his foot and he scored. Four minutes later, he scored another, completing a five-star performance against a second-best Leipzig.

What record did Erling Haaland break?

Haaland reached the 30-goal mark in 25 games -- quicker than anybody in the history of the competition. In fact, he is the youngest to do so as well, at 22 years and 236 days.

The former record was previously held by Ruud van Nistelrooy while the latter was held by Lionel Messi.

Erling Haaland is the third player to score five goals in a single UEFA Champions League game after Luiz Adriano in October 2014 (Shakhtar Donetsk vs BATE Borisov) and Lionel Messi in March 2012 (Barcelona v Bayer Leverkusen).

How many goals has Haaland scored for Man City?

Haaland has scored 39 goals for Manchester City in all competitions this season.

Only 2 players have scored five goals at the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League -- Lionel Messi against Bayer Leverkusen and Erling Haaland against RB Leipzig.

With five goals against Leizig, he broke the record for Tommy Johnson for most goals in a season. Tommy had 38 goals in the 1928-29 season.

ERLING HAALAND’S RECORDS

What records does Erling Haaland have?

The record of being quickest to 30 Champions League goals was previously held by Nistelrooy, who had achieved the feat in 34 games. The youngest to that many goals, on the other hand, was held by Lionel Messi, who was 23 years and 131 days old when he had 30 goals to his name in the competition.

He’s the first Premier League player to score five hat-tricks in a season since Harry Kane in 2016-17.

Haaland has now scored more Champions League hat-tricks (2) than Thierry Henry, Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Haaland has now scored more Champions League goals (30) as Rooney, Antoine Griezmann, Samuel Eto’o and Kaká.

(with inputs from Opta)