Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig (agg 8-1): Champions League last ...
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Report, reaction and analysisDavid Hytner was at the Etihad this evening. His report has landed, and here it is. Thanks for reading this one. Nighty night!
Pep Guardiola is unsurprisingly in a good mood on BT Sport. “It was a really good performance from minute one until the end from everyone … very good, very good … our pressing was incredibly good … we played really, really, really, really good, really, really good with the ball and without the ball … we scored lots of goals and Erling was amazing but everyone was exceptional … it’s five in 60 minutes … if he was to do 90 minutes, I don’t know … he is an incredible guy with huge talent, power and mentality, he is a serial winner … we scored four goals here to Real Madrid, six against Monaco, four against Tottenham, and all the time we were out, because we conceded goals … right now these guys defend really well … but of course having a weapon like Erling in this competition is important … Kevin is extraordinary, the rhythm he played today, his movement, is the Kevin we know … and we haven’t seen that so much this season … he is unstoppable.”
Tonight’s other last-16 match ended Porto 0-0 Internazionale. That puts the 1964, 1965 and 2010 winners into the quarters for the first time since 2011. They’ll be in the pot for the draw along with Manchester City, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Benfica and … neighbours Milan. Now wouldn’t that be fun? The line-up will be completed tomorrow evening, when the smart money is on champions Real Madrid and Napoli to complete their tasks after fine away wins against Liverpool and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.
The record-breaking and record-equalling Erling Haaland enjoys a light-hearted back-and-forth with BT Sport. “It’s a big night … I’m really proud to play Champions League, I love this competition … five goals, to win 7-0 at home, I’m so happy … I’m a bit blurry in my head so I don’t remember the goals! … I was so tired after the celebrations! … we have to put pressure, we have to run … in my opinion we should do this more … a lot of goals I didn’t think, it was just doing it … just trying to get the ball in the back of the net … a lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to do the right thing … a little bit of it is quality but a lot is in the head … [performs comic sulk mime] I told Pep when I went off that I would like to score a double hat-trick, but what can you do?”
For the record, ten players managed a one-match five-goal haul during the European Cup years: Owe Ohlsson (Gothenburg), Bent Lofqvist (Boldklubben 1913), Jose Altafini (Milan), Ray Crawford (Ipswich Town), Nikola Kotkov (Lokomotiv Sofia), Flórián Albert (Ferencvaros), Paul Van Himst (Anderlecht), Gerd Muller (Bayern Munich), Claudio Sulser (Grasshopper Zurich), Soren Lerby (Ajax).
So, then. Altafini. Albert. Van Himst. Muller. Lerby. Messi. Haaland. That is not bad company to be keeping. Not bad company at all!
The PA guy announces a “full-time score of Manchester City eight, RB Leipzig nil, nine-one on aggregate” before issuing an immediate correction. Hey, can you blame him for getting carried away after that? Erling Haaland becomes only the third player to score five goals in a single match during the Champions League era, after Lionel Messi did so for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, and Luiz Adriano matched the feat two years later for Shakhtar Donetsk against BATE Borisov.
FULL TIME: Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig (De Bruyne 90+2); agg 8-1Erling Haaland scores five. His season’s tally of 39 breaks a club record set by Tommy Johnson in 1929. There’s still a big chunk of the season, in three competitions, to go!
GOAL! Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig (De Bruyne 90+2); agg 8-1Mahrez jinks down the right and rolls the ball across the face of the Leipzig box. De Bruyne takes a touch on the edge of the D, opens his body, and curls gracefully into the top-right corner. What a performance by Manchester City!
90 min +1: A reminder, courtesy of Steve Waterhouse, that this sort of carry-on is nothing new.
90 min: There will be two added minutes.
89 min: City knock it around, tick, tock.
87 min: Raum eventually gets up. He looks pretty groggy. His head would have been swimming already as a result of the circles City have been running around him. He’s cleared to continue, though.
85 min: Mahrez jinks his way down the right and wins a corner. Leipzig clear, as Blaswich accidentally clatters his own man Raum. A sore one, though if nothing else it gives Leipzig the opportunity to run down a chunk of the clock. On comes the trainer.
83 min: Bernardo Silva crosses from the left. Akanji leaps and sends a weak header towards the bottom left. Easy for Blaswich, who may have made one or two crucial mistakes with his distribution, but has also kept the score down. This is bad for Leipzig all right, but it could have been a whole lot worse.
81 min: To paraphrase the late, great Sid Waddell: when Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer … Erling Haaland’s only 22.
79 min: Ederson plays carelessly out and nearly tees up Laimer on the edge of the box. Laimer can’t get a shot away. Leipzig come again, though, and Andre Silva attempts a curler towards the bottom left. Always heading wide, and Ederson had it covered.
78 min: Phillips ships possession, then Akanji is booked for a late slide on Olmo. City have earned the right to get a little sloppy, to be fair. On which subject, here’s Rob Moore: “At risk of sounding churlish, this is all very impressive, but doesn’t really tell us anything new. We’ve known for six years that City are capable of amazing, near-unstoppable football, but their failures in Europe have come down to a mix of not performing, Pep tinkering, and Real bloody Madrid. If this City performance comes around every game they’ll win it, but we all know they’ve got a dodgy one in there somewhere.”
76 min: Thirty-eight goals in 36 matches, though! There’s still over a quarter of the season to go!
74 min: In the dugout, Haaland sits sprawled in his chair with a coat draped over his shoulders, a huge contented smile playing across his face. All that’s missing is some brandy being rolled around a tumbler and a fat cigar on the go.
72 min: Leipzig replace Szoboszlai with Olmo.
71 min: City ping the ball around in the swaggering manner. Leipzig can’t get a touch. Like that’s breaking news.
69 min: A reminder that should the tie finish all square at the end of normal time, there will be extra time and possibly penalties.
67 min: De Bruyne is dragged back by Henrichs, but doesn’t get the free kick. He tells it as he sees it, and the referee pops him into the book.
66 min: The City fans are in full party mode now. Blue Moon. The Poznan. Dreams of finally breaking their Champions League duck. Real Madrid watch out!
64 min: City swap out three players too. Phillips, Alvarez and Gomes come on for Stones, Rodri and … the five-goal hero Erling Haaland. What an ovation he gets! It’s fair to say he’s earned it.
63 min: Leipzig make a triple substitution. Haidara, Forsberg and Werner make way for Simakan, Poulsen and Silva.
61 min: Leipzig are an excellent side, too. They’ve only lost two of their last 24 games in all competitions! City are throwing down some gauntlet to the rest of Europe here.
59 min: Before that goal, Haaland – then with a mere four goals to his name tonight – chased down Blaswich with absurd vigour. That press, press, press attitude has clearly rattled Leipzig from the get-to. He’s an astonishing force of nature!
GOAL! Manchester City 6-0 Leipzig (Haaland 57); agg 7-1He’s got the record for himself now! A corner. Mahrez crosses from the right. Akanji tries to flick goalwards. The ball’s blocked. But it drops to Haaland, who belts a low shot into the bottom left. It was unstoppable, of course!
56 min: That was Haaland’s fourth of the evening, and 38th of the season. He therefore ties Tommy Johnson’s season-best record for City, a mark set in 1929.
55 min: Any respite for Leipzig? Nope! On come Foden and Mahrez, as Gundogan and Grealish make way.
GOAL! Manchester City 5-0 Leipzig (Haaland 53); agg 6-1One corner leads to another. It’s swung long from the right by De Bruyne. Silva heads back across goal from the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Haaland rises high and powers a header down towards goal. Blaswich bravely parries on the line, but the ball breaks back to Haaland, via Akanji, and the big man slams home!
52 min: Silva rolls down the right for De Bruyne, who fires a low cross in from a tight spot. Orban hangs out a leg and nearly deflects into his own net, the ball looping over the bar. He had to intervene, Haaland (who else?) was waiting to slam home in the middle.
51 min: That was some team move. None more Pep.
GOAL! Manchester City 4-0 Leipzig (Gundogan 49); agg 5-1City are in imperious form. A sensational team goal. De Bruyne slips Grealish into space down the left. Grealish doesn’t have an option so turns tail. The ball ends up all the way back with Ederson, who switches play to the right. De Bruyne then slips infield for Haaland, who shuttles further left to Grealish again. This time Grealish lays off to Gundogan, who from the edge of the box, takes a touch before passing a low diagonal shot into the bottom right. Astonishing!
47 min: A fairly subdued atmosphere now at the Etihad. Everyone knows this is over. Like any of the home fans are complaining.
Leipzig get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time postbag. “Chances are they’d have lost anyway, but that VAR decision has likely cost Leipzig the tie. If that’s a penalty, I’m Erling Haaland. And Jim Goodwin is Pep Guardiola” – Simon McMahon
“Clear foul and clear yellow for Ederson. Outrageously poor call. And I say this as an Arsenal fan hoping City goes all the way to the final in the CL, foregoing the league in the process!” – Ben Bernards
“Why did Henrichs get booked for the handball? Yes. It was a handball/penalty. But his back was turned to Rodri and the ball. Rodri saw the arm out and headed the ball onto it. Since Henrichs had no knowledge of where the ball was and Rodri was looking for a penalty instead of trying to pick a pass, it seems insanely harsh for him to get carded” – Eagle Brosi
“Can there be a new rule that VAR can’t give a penalty if no one is appealing for one?” – Crispin Leyser
HALF TIME: Manchester City 3-0 RB Leipzig (agg 3-1)Haaland generously points to Dias, to suggest where the plaudits should be going. But it’s his goal. Yet another hat-trick! What a player. Unless something monumentally odd occurs in the next hour, Manchester City are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League!
GOAL! Manchester City 3-0 RB Leipzig (Haaland 45+2); agg 3-1De Bruyne wins a corner down the left. Grealish takes and hits it long. Dias rises at the far post and plants a header onto the post. The ball bobbles along the line. Haidara tries to hook clear but only manages to knock the ball onto Haaland’s shin, and it whistles in from a couple of yards!
45 min: There will be two added first-half minutes.
44 min: Szoboszlai slips Werner into space down the left. The flag goes up for offside. The Hungarian international has probably been Leipzig’s best player during this first half.
42 min: Silva comes dancing in from the right, past three challenges. He’s unable to ride a fourth. Another goal now would surely finish off Leipzig before the break.
40 min: A period of relative calm.
38 min: De Bruyne rolls a free kick down the right to release Gundogan into the box. Easy as that! Gundogan’s slapshot is parried, and somehow evades Haaland in the middle. He’s after that hat-trick! Getting ever closer.
37 min: That was a big let off for City. A very strange, jittery display by both teams here.
35 min: Rodri, facing his own goal, underhits a backpass and lets Laimer in down the right. Laimer rolls instantly across for Werner, who fresh-airs a swipe in trying to poke home from eight yards. City so close to gifting a goal and a lifeline to Leipzig!
