Thanks to a quintuplet from Haaland, Manchester City crushes Leipzig 7-0 and goes into the quarters

Erling Haaland put the Ethiad Stadium in a trance on Tuesday evening. It must be said that the Norwegian striker has again written a page in the history of the Champions League by scoring a quintuplet. With this incredible performance, Manchester City pulverized 7-0 the Germans of Leipzig, to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition, a stage also reached by Inter Milan after their 0-0 draw at Porto.

Held 1-1 in the first leg, the Sky Blues dominated the round of 16 second leg with a head and shoulders, driven by an undeniable collective momentum, sometimes generous whistles and a hat-trick from their untenable Norwegian N.9 from the first period. Before the break, in fact, Haaland saw triple from the penalty spot (22nd), with a header (24th) then pushing back a ball flirting with the goal line (45th + 2).

Haaland in the footsteps of Messi and Adrian

After the 4-0 signed Ilkay Gündogan (49th), the 22-year-old giant scored his fourth (53rd) then fifth (57th) goals of the evening, before giving up his place at the hour mark to a huge ovation from the stadium. Arrived this summer from Dortmund, Erling Haaland has made a place for himself in the Champions League guestbook with the third quintuplet in modern history. Before him, only Lionel Messi with FC Barcelona in 2012 and the Brazilian Luiz Adrian in 2014 with Shakhtar Donetsk had achieved such a feat.

Above all, Haaland is only playing his fourth season in C1 but he is already close to the heights: here he is now credited with 33 goals in 25 games in the European elite, a record for precociousness. He also compiled 39 pawns (in 36 games) with the Citizens, which is already a record for the northern England club in one season.

All is well therefore for the Mancunians who will play the quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive year, thanks to Haaland and, perhaps in part, to lenient refereeing. The penalty transformed by the Norwegian follows a German hand detected by the video assistance and not very obvious. Above all, goalkeeper Ederson miraculously escaped a red card after an uncontrolled exit from his area (34th).

A more undecided match between Porto and Milan

The other meeting of the evening, on the other hand, turned out to be much more indecisive between FC Porto and Inter Milan (0-0). At home, the Dragons failed to erase the 1-0 defeat suffered in the first leg in Italy, despite three clear chances in added time. The Nerazzurri went through a mouse hole but that was enough for their happiness, they who had not reached the quarters since 2011.

They join AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Benfica and Chelsea in the top 8. The last two tickets will be distributed this Wednesday. Real Madrid, winner 5-2 in Liverpool, and the Italians of Naples, dominating in Frankfurt (2-0), however killed part of the suspense in the first leg.

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