Erling Haaland’s quick-fire hat-trick for Manchester City against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night, March 14, 2023, broke a goalscoring record previously held by Kylian Mbappe.
The big Norwegian scored a first-half hat-trick as City took control of their Champions League last-16 early on at the Etihad.
While Haaland’s efforts will help his team progress further in the competition, it also represented an impressive individual feat.
At 22 years and 236 days old, the City forward became the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the competition’s history.
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That puts him ahead of Kylian Mbappe, who previously held the record at 22 years and 352 days old, both of whom are far ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
On the night, Haaland also celebrated becoming the fastest player to reach the 30-goal milestone, doing so in just 25 matches, beating Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous record of 30 games.
Not content with breaking two records, Haaland grabbed a fourth goal early in the second half. That strike drew him level with Tommy Johnson for the most goals scored in a single season for Man City (38).
His fifth goal, netted just a few minutes later, saw him take that record outright. With that finish, he became just the third player in Champions League history to net five times in a single game. He was subbed soon after.
After securing their place in the quarter-finals will an eventual 7-0 victory, City will next be in action in the FA Cup against Burnley on Saturday, where Pep Guardiola will come up against his former player Vincent Kompany in the dugout.
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Source: Goal
