What started as a potentially awkward night for Manchester City soon became nothing more than a matter of ticking off the records. RB Leipzig had lost only two of its previous 24 games but it was blown away by City, which surged into the quarterfinals of the Champions League, 8–1 on aggregate, after a 7–0 second-leg win.
Erling Haaland was the obvious star, joining Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano as the only players to have scored five goals in a single Champions League game, despite being taken off in the 63rd minute. It was his fifth hat-trick at the Etihad this season and took him to 39 goals for the season, breaking the City record set by Tommy Johnson in 1928-29; there are still almost three months and a potential 19 games remaining.
But this was an exceptional team performance as it equaled its record Champions league win. Kevin De Bruyne, after being criticized by Pep Guardiola on Monday, was at his sharpest again, as was John Stones, doing the job Guardiola loves his fullbacks to do, drifting from fullback into the center of midfield.
