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Manchester City secured a comfortable 7-0 win over RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg to qualify for the quarter-finals 8-1 on aggregate.
The Cityzens seemed to have woken up after their 1-1 draw against Leipzig in the first leg as they won four games on the bounce after that result. Pep Guardiola's men achieved that in some style, scoring 10 goals and keeping three clean sheets in the process. The Spaniard fielded his strongest XI as he looked to take his team into the next round.
RB Leipzig, on the other hand, have won three, drawn one and lost one of their last five games across competitions. After a disappointing 2-1 defeat to rivals Borussia Dortmund, Marco Rose's men rallied to secure a comfortable 3-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach in their last outing. The German side were at full-strength aside from goalkeeper Peter Gulasci, who is out injured.
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Manchester City made a strong start to the game as they drew Leipzig onto them first, before pushing forward and pinning the German side in their own half. They moved the ball across the pitch swiftly, creating spaces for midfielders and forwards to operate in. The hosts' movement drew Leipzig out of position but they lacked sharpness to convert their chances.
The visitors saw themselves fall behind after a contentious decision by the VAR to award a penalty as the ball struck Benjamin Henrichs' hand while his back was facing the action. Erling Haaland stepped up to score to make it 1-0 after 22 minutes.
Soon after, Kevin De Bruyne's rebounded effort off the crossbar fell to the Norwegian, who headed in from close-range to make it 2-0.
Haaland completed an incredible first-half hat-trick as he ghosted in at the far post following a headed effort by Ruben Dias. He closed down Amadou Haidara's attempted clearance to force the ball into the back of the net as Manchester City led 3-0 over Leipzig at the interval.
Manchester City made a rampant start to the first half as Jack Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan combined to make it 4-0 after 49 minutes, with the former assisting the latter. Haaland then grabbed two goals in quick-fire fashion to make it five for the night, before being subbed off by Guardiola as City led 6-0.
Both managers made multiple changes as they looked to give players game-time. The hosts continued to press forward and looked relentless out of possession as they looked hungry for more even with such a commanding lead. De Bruyne rounded off a remarkable performance by Manchester City with a strike from distance to make it 7-0 in the 92nd minute as they secured the win.
On that note, let's take a look at the five talking points from the game.
#5. RB Leipzig struggled to play the ball out from the back
The hosts made a good start and in typical fashion, spread the play across the pitch, often passing the ball all the way back to Ederson. Drawing the press for the opening 10 minutes allowed Manchester City's forwards to then exploit the gaps that Leipzig defenders left as they were drawn out of position. This led to City then turning the tide and piling the pressure on the visitors.
City's forwards pushed ahead and attempted multiple shots, which led to Leipzig sitting back and trying to play long balls to their forwards. However, goalkeeper Janis Blaswich's long passes often found Manuel Akanji or Ruben Dias, who were quick to release the ball forward. The hosts capitalized on one such error for their second goal.
#4. Manchester City were awarded a dubious first-half penalty
As Manchester City piled the pressure on the hosts, their wingers played multiple crosses into Leipzig's box as they looked to find Haaland. Rodri did well to push forward as well and was involved in a duel with Henrichs, which led to the questionable penalty call.
As the two players went up for the ball, it ricocheted off the Spaniard, before hitting the German full-back's arm as he landed with his back to the ball. He was barely a couple of feet away from Rodri with no sight of the ball.
None of the City players or fans were interested and nobody appealed and no on-field decision was made. However, much to everyone's surprise, VAR intervened and awarded a penalty to Manchester City.
#3. Erling Haaland scores his fifth hat-trick of the season
Haaland made a decent start to the game and burst into life after the 20-minute mark. He converted a penalty to put the hosts 1-0 up after 22 minutes, before finding himself in the right position at the right time to head a rebounded shot into the goal just two minutes later. The Norwegian showed great awareness to close down Haidara at the far post to force a third goal, completing a first-half hat-trick.
Having already scored four hat-tricks in the Premier League this season, Erling Haaland notched his fifth and his first in the Champions League so far. He scored two goals in the second half to make it 39 for the campaign, surpassing Tommy Johnson's 38 goals in a single season, which had stood since 1927-28.
#2. Haaland becomes the third player to score five goals in a single UCL game
Having scored a first-half hat-trick and topped it up with a brace in the second half, Erling Haaland became only the third player to score five goals in a single Champions League game in the competition's rich history.
Lionel Messi was the first player to achieve this tremendous feat, netting five times in a 7-1 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen in 2012 while playing for Barcelona. Luiz Adriano was the second player to do so, scoring five goals for Shakhtar Donetsk in a 7-0 rout of BATE Borisov in 2014.
With his stunning performance tonight, Haaland joins an elite list most can only dream of.
#1. This win equals Manchester City's biggest win in the competition
The Cityzens have carved out a reputation for being one of the most rampant teams in front of goal over the last decade or so. With scores in excess of five goals a common occurrence under Pep Guardiola, the team's fans have enjoyed some high-scoring affairs.
Prior to this fixture, Manchester City's biggest win in the Champions League came against Schalke in 2019 as they won 7-0 with goals from six different players, progressing to the quarter-finals 10-2 on aggregate.
Tonight, however, seven goals were distributed between just two players.
