Manchester City and Erling Haaland sent another warning to Champions League contenders by hammering RB Leipzig to waltz into the next round of the competition at home.
The striker netted five of the 7 goals on the night and seemed to break a record with every strike as Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne completed the emphatic 8-1 aggregate win.
Coming into the game tied 1-1 on aggregate, Leipzig’s hopes of another shock result appeared shaky from the start with Gundogan and Haaland firing shots at Janis Blaswich’s goal soon after the start.
The Norwegian finally opened the scoring in the 22nd minute from the penalty spot before doubling his side’s lead just two minutes later. De Bruyne unleashed a strike which cannoned off the crossbar before Haaland headed the ball into an empty net.
With the goal, Haaland became the youngest (22 years, 236 days) and quickest (25 games) to reach 30 Champions League goals.
He was not done there.
He put away Ruben Dias’ effort from a corner for his hat trick before half time joining Messi as the only player to score a first-half treble in a Champions League knockout game.
Gundogan scored the second period’s first goal before Haaland added two more in the 53rd and 57th minutes from close range to again equal Messi’s record of scoring five goals in a Champions League knockout game.
His five-goal haul is the quickest among players with Messi taking 84 minutes and Luiz Adriano taking 82 minutes.
With Haaland subbed off, Leipzig managed to create a few chances of their own but Manchester City rarely appeared troubled as they waited for this Champions League tie to be over.
De Bruyne still found time to fire a curling shot in the added time to inflict Leipzig’s heaviest defeat ever.
