The Norwegian striker scored five goals in Man City’s 7-0 win over RB Leipzig to help the English team reach the quarter-finals. He became the third player to score five goals in a Champions League game after Lionel Messi (for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen) and Luiz Adriano (for Shakhtar Donetsk against Bate Borisov).
However, coach Guardiola pulled Haaland off the field in the 63rd minute to bring in Julian Alvarez, making the striker unable to make history with a hat-trick.
When asked about substitutions after the game, Guardiola said: “If he reaches this milestone at 22, 23, his life will be boring. He will have no goals to reach in the future. future. That’s why I changed.”
“I don’t know about Messi scoring five goals against Leverkusen. But I substituted because I wanted to keep him fit. Haaland scored five goals in this game. The problem was every time we didn’t score two or three goals. , he will be criticized. This is the reality.”
After a spectacular display in the Champions League, Haaland and City will focus on the FA Cup quarter-final against Burnley this Saturday.
