Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has said Erling Haaland is a gift to football after he scored five goals in the Premier League champions’ 7-0 win against RB Leipzig on Tuesday.
Haaland became the third player to score five goals in a single UEFA Champions League game after Luiz Adriano in October 2014 (Shakhtar Donetsk vs BATE Borisov) and Lionel Messi in March 2012 (Barcelona v Bayer Leverkusen).
He has scored five hat-tricks for City in all competitions this season, three more than any other player in Europe’s big five leagues.
And he is the first Premier League player to score five hat-tricks in a season since Harry Kane in 2016-17.
And reacting to Haaland’s performance
Guardiola praised Haaland and highlighted his ball contact during the game.
“Five goals what can I say? I said many times he’s a joyful guy. His mood in the locker room is always happiness,” mancity.com quoted Guardiola as saying
“He’s a gift to all of us. He is a huge competitor, his mentality is there. He scored five goals which is not easy.
“He scored five goals and I think he made 30-35 ball contacts and this what we’re looking for. It is difficult to score –he can do it though –when you don’t touch the ball for 40 or 50 minutes.”
Haaland is currently the highest goalscorer in the Champions League with 10 goals in six matches.
He is also the leading in the Premier League with 28 goals and five assists in 26 matches.
City’s next game is an FA Cup quarter-final tie against Burnley on Saturday March 18 at the Etihad Stadium.
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