Clinging to the first leg in Germany, Manchester City left RB Leipzig no chance in the knockout stages of the Champions League. The Citizens won 7-0 thanks to a quintuplet from Erling Haaland! In the other match of the evening, Inter Milan retained their advantage with a goal acquired in the first leg by going for a draw (0-0) at Porto.
With this quintuplet, the 22-year-old center forward enters the modern history books of this competition in its current format. He is following in the footsteps of Lionel Messi and the Brazilian Luiz Adriano, authors of a similar feat respectively with Barcelona in 2012 once morest Bayer Leverkusen and with Shakhtar Donetsk in 2014 once morest BATE Borisov.
In the 1st half, Haaland scored a hat-trick by scoring from the penalty spot (22nd), with a header (24th) then pushing back a ball flirting with the goal line (45th + 2). After the 4-0 signed Gündogan (49th), the blond giant scored his 4th (53rd) then 5th (57th) goals of the evening, before giving way shortly following the hour mark to Julian Alvarez. De Bruyne added a 7th goal for the Citizens in the 92nd.
Inter also qualified
Thanks to a top-notch defensive performance, Inter Milan advanced to the next round. Victorious 1-0 at home, the Nerazzurri held the shock on the return to Porto (0-0). Unlucky, the Portuguese shot twice on the uprights in stoppage time.
The Italians thus secured their qualification in the same way as their rivals AC Milan once morest Tottenham. The two Lombard clubs might be in the quarter-finals, since the draw (Friday March 17) will be completely open.
agencies/pza