Erling Haaland reacts after smashing five past RB Leipzig

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Louise Thomas

Editor

Erling Haaland declared that his “super strength” is scoring goals after becoming only the third player to get five in a Champions League game.

And the Norwegian said he had told Pep Guardiola he wanted to get a double hat-trick before the Manchester City manager took him off after 63 minutes of their 7-0 win over RB Leipzig.

Haaland broke a 94-year-old City club record by getting 39 goals in a season, surpassing Tommy Johnson’s 38, and joined Luiz Adriano and Lionel Messi as the only footballers to get five in a Champions League match.

And he said: “It’s a big night. Firstly, I’m proud to play in this competition, I love it. Five goals. To win 7-0 is amazing.

“My super strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? A lot of goals today, I didn’t think. I was just trying to get it into the back of the net. A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not.”

Haaland, who got his fifth hat-trick for City and became the youngest player to reach 30 Champions League goals, had hoped to stay on and get more. He added: “I told him [Guardiola] I would love to score a double hat-trick but what can I do?”

Leipzig manager Marco Rose, who worked with Haaland at Borussia Dortmund last season, felt it was a special evening for the striker.

He said: “He had a great night. He was so hungry and he scored goals with the foot, he scored goals with the head, he won second balls, he made deep runs. It looked really simple tonight. He took the ball from the referee. It means it was a special night for him in terms of scoring and congratulations to him.”