Manchester City entered the second leg as clear favorites after they played a draw in Germany in the first leg. RB Leipzig was resilient during the first leg as they kept the Blues at bay. It was a brilliant display of perfectly balanced defensive football by the German side. They kept the dangerous Haaland from scoring by keeping the through balls in check. However, he had different ideas for the second leg. Mahrez was the sole scorer for the Blues in the first leg.
Match Report
Manchester City started with their orthodox formation that heavily banked on the strong and formidable midfield. Mahrez, the scorer during the first leg, started on the bench. Stones started in the defensive midfield position. Right from the start City made it very clear that they wanted to make a statement, a warning for all the teams in the competition. Haaland opened the scoring for the Citizens with a 22nd-minute shot from the spot. RB Leipzig conceded a penalty via a handball. The foul was confirmed after a brief VAR check. Benjamin Hendrichs was the culprit. The Norwegian was not too good to miss the penalty. The Norwegian had no intention to rest and scored a towering heading just two minutes later. De Bruyne’s shot ricocheted off the post and Haaland was quick in taking advantage. From there it started to look like it would be a long night for the German side. The third was again a lucky one for Haaland as he took advantage of another deflection from the post that was enforced by Ruben Dias’s header. Haaland was again at the right place, at the right time. This was his fifth hat trick on his home ground. There was a bit of drama when Ederson collided with the defender while trying to win the ball. He escaped a certain red card for that. At the end of the first half, Timo Werner missed a well-placed chance, which was a bit typical of him.
At the start of the second half, Gundogan started the proceeding with a brilliant left-footed shot, right into the bottom corner. The German is considered to be a man for the big occasion and he proves it just right regularly. The German side was down and out but the tall Norwegian had no intentions whatsoever to stop. He scored a fourth with his left foot. The keeper did well to keep Haaland’s headers out but he followed it with a strong left foot finishing beating some 3 defenders and a keeper to score his 4th. Then he had his fifth when the goalkeeper denied Akanji but not the tall Norwegian. There was almost disbelief in the whole stadium. His substitution was a sigh of relief for the Bundesliga side. The main man was substituted but the Blues had no intentions of stopping. De Bruyne scored his trademark goal by curling the ball into the top left corner. The strike was icing on the cake for the Blues.
Record Breaker Haaland
It was another memorable night for the record-breaker Haaland. He made history by becoming the quickest player to score 30 goals in Champions League football. He achieved the feat in 25 games which is quite impossible to believe. He became the third player to score five goals in a single Champions League game with Lionel Messi being the most recent scorer. He scored 10 goals in the competition which is a club record. With a goal tally of 39 goals, he has become the most prolific scorer in a single season for the Blues toppling a 94-year-old record. The Norwegian has become the youngest player to score 30 goals in the Champions League. Haaland has scored five hat tricks, most for a Premier League player, equaling Harry Kane.
