It was the moment when RB Leipzig’s shattered players could exhale. There were 62 minutes on the clock and a bright, red No 9 on the Manchester City substitutes’ board. For the German club, the ordeal was over. Erling Haaland was coming off.
As City’s wrecking ball of a centre-forward departed, a broad smile on his lips, there was a slightly awed burst of applause from all sides, Pep Guardiola joining in on the touchline. Haaland had previously scored four hat-tricks in City colours during a season in which he has relentlessly dismantled records. But five in one game? And a Champions League last-16 tie, at that?
