Man City reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, scoring 7 goals against Leipzig – Haaland scored a penta-trick, repeating the record of the Shakhtar legend.
“Football 24” together with partner HLIBNY DAR tells how Erilng Haaland brought RB Leipzig to their knees in the second leg of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League.
It was expected that Manchester City would remove all issues of confrontation with RB in the first match. However, Pep Guardiola was again too smart with tactical decisions – in particular, the Catalan decided to play without substitutions. As a result, instead of a confident triumph, the British got a score draw (1:1). Now everything had to be decided at the Etihad, where the “citizens” have not suffered a single defeat in the season. Pep returned to the basic settings, Rosé did not take risks
The hosts made two substitutions compared to the departure. De Bruyne replaced Mahrez and the Stones replaced Walker. Pep at the same time left the experiments, returning to the basic settings. If in Germany he played without fake fullbacks, then this time the Stones actively entered the center (while Rodri helped the defenders in the build-up).
Bernardo Silva and De Bruyne switched places, playing low or high, in the middle or on the flank. Grealish traditionally gave width, with Holland dropping to the center to assist on plays. When pressed, the “citizens” lined up four Grealish-Holand-KDB-Bernard – for the most part they waited for Blasvich to take out, but from time to time they put a pass on him as a trigger for pressure.
RB Leipzig, in turn, did not take risks from the starting minutes. The Germans saturated the center with a narrow four and practically did not put pressure on the City. The fullbacks did not go ahead, although in the second half at the Red Bull Arena, it was precisely such tactics that brought success to the Rotten Bullen.
Start of the match: Manchester City regularly escalate, set pieces are also a source of chances
This structure of the teams’ play determined the course of the first half. Manchester City dominated, creating a debut moment already in the 2nd minute of the meeting. Silva and KDB beat on the flank, followed by a cross to the center of the penalty area – no one kept track of Gundogan. Ilkay banged into touch, but launched the ball into the stands.
Haaland was supposed to score in the 11th minute. Erling started from the depths under the throw from Ake – the Norwegian overtook Guardiol, took the sphere and found himself right in front of Blasvih! Kiper reduced the distance and saved RB Leipzig.
In the 19th minute, City worked a thing that will prove itself more than once in this match. The hosts earned a corner, the Germans failed to clear the ball, and the “townspeople” shot at the goal several times. The Bulls fought back, but viewing the video replay showed that the sphere fell into Henriks’s hand.
Slavko Vincic called a penalty, which Haaland confidently converted (although Blasvich guessed the corner). 1:0! And exactly two minutes later Holland scored a double! This time the pressure worked.
Erling put pressure on Blaswich, forcing him to kick the ball to nowhere. Akanji won the fight in the center and dropped the ball back to the attack, after which De Bruyne moved to the semicircle and shot at the crossbar – and the Norwegian immediately played on the rebound! 2:0!
RB Leipzig immediately changed tactics, starting to take risks. Rotten Bullen turned on intense pressure and the rise of fullbacks in the attack. It turned out that Manchester City is not so terrible – Pep Guardiola’s wards began to make mistakes in their own third.
At the 33rd minute, the guests even brought Werner one on one with Ederson, but the keeper ran out of the penalty area and brought down Timo. Oddly enough, the foul was recorded on the forward.
RB Leipzig did not create scoring chances, but Manchester City continued to strain Blasvich. In the 31st minute, Holland received a pass behind Orban’s back and fired from the left side of the penalty area, and in the 39th minute Gundogan hit from the right side – Blasvih rescued in both cases.
In the end, in the 2nd stoppage minute, the “citizens” achieved their goal: Dias closed the cross, Blasvih moved the ball to the post, and he rolled along the goal line to another post – Aydara tried to take it out, but Holland covered him, hammering the sphere into the net. 3:0!
The second half is a continuation of the first. Holland broke the record of Messi and Adriano, playing in the style of Seleznev
Manchester City have decided all the issues to reach the quarterfinals. However, this did not stop the team. Just three minutes after the start of the second half, Blasvih had to take the ball out of the net for the fourth time. Holland passed to Gundogan, who beat Grealish and shot from the left edge of the penalty area – 4:0!
Then Holland began his concert. In the 53rd minute, City earned a set piece, and a pass from it ended with a discount to the far post. Erling hit Blasviha with his head, finishing off Akanji was covered, but the Norwegian picked up the rebound and scored poker – 5:0!
At the 57th minute, he brought the case to a penta-trick, driving the ball into the net after taking out a corner feed. 6:0 Thus, Haaland repeated the record of Messi and Luis Adriano (yes, from Shakhtar), scoring five goals in one match of the Champions League.
In addition, Erling became the youngest player to score 30 goals in the Champions League (breaking Mbappe’s record), and for this the Norwegian needed the fewest matches – 25 (breaking Van Nistelrooy’s record with 34 matches).
A few minutes after the historic event, Pep Guardiola removed all the leaders from the run, including Haaland. The striker laughed merrily on the bench, while his teammates played the fool on the field. Manchester City didn’t create a single moment in the last half hour of normal time, but with a RB like this, that kind of behavior is excusable. In the 75th minute, the Germans failed to score even into an empty net.
In the end, in the 2nd stoppage minute, De Bruyne punished Leipzig with a spectacular shot, setting the final score – 7:0! Manchester City inflicted the biggest defeat in the history of RB and advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
