Manchester City advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals thanks to Erling Haaland’s five-goal masterclass against RB Leipzig on Tuesday.
The striker scored a hat-trick in the first half, including two goals in two minutes, before adding two more after the break in an 8-1 aggregate victory at the Etihad Stadium.
With 39 goals for the season, Haaland broke Tommy Johnson’s single-season City record set in 1928-29, among a slew of new high marks as Pep Guardiola’s hosts tied their European record margin of victory.
Also the youngest and fastest player to pass 30 Champions League goals, Haaland‘s historic numbers befitted a majestic display up front, with his latest turn destined to go down in European folklore no matter what happens next.
Haaland was handed a stroke of luck for his first, with City awarded a dubious penalty by referee Slavko Vincic for a handball strongly protested by Benjamin Henrichs.
He ruthlessly converted from the spot, however, and then doubled his tally just moments later when he nodded home a rebound after Kevin De Bruyne hit the crossbar.
A first-half hat-trick followed with an air of inevitability when Haaland pounced on a parried Ruben Dias header before the break to bundle in the third from close range.
Ilkay Gundogan ensured another name at least got on the scoresheet when he added City’s fourth with a sweeping low finish four minutes after the restart.
Yet the game belonged to Haaland, who added another two with close-range strikes before the hour, both times pouncing after Manuel Akanji was denied.
Haaland’s exit in the 63rd minute was greeted with a standing ovation, denying him an unprecedented double hat-trick but saving the City striker ahead of a quarter-final in which further records could fall.
The scoring was not quite over, though, as De Bruyne would not be denied and added a sublime seventh in stoppage time for a final touch of gloss.