Pep Guardiola said he gave no thought to Erling Haaland's chances of scoring a double hat-trick in Manchester City's huge win over RB Leipzig, when he substituted the striker on five goals.
City were ruthless in a 7-0 second-leg win that saw them coast into the quarter-finals after a tense first leg. Haaland's first-half hat-trick was followed up by a second-half brace, becoming just the third man to score five in a single Champions League game. His haul takes him to 33 Champions League goals, reaching 30 in the quickest amount of games from any player in history, and as the youngest player to reach the landmark.
Not only that, but Haaland's 39 for the season saw him beat the 94-year record for goals scored for City in a single season, beating Tommy Johnson's 39 in 1928/29.
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Haaland said he told Guardiola that he wanted a double hat-trick when he was substituted on five goals, but Guardiola joked he replaced the striker for his own good.
"If he achieves this milestone at 22, 23, it will be boring his life," Guardiola joked. "He wouldn't have a target to reach in the future. Here and everywhere. That's why I make a substitution. I didn't know about Messi with Leverkusen (when he scored five against them in 2012), but I make a substitution because normally when the game is over we want them to play.
"He scored five goals. The problem is every time we don't score two or three he will be criticised. This is the reality."
Guardiola also praised Haaland's all-round play that impressed him just as much as the five-goal haul, noting that he helped City's supposedly defensive formation prove to be more attacking
"Most of the time, when he scores hat-tricks after 60-65 minutes I make a substitution," Guardiola said. "Today he scored five but touched 30-35 ball contacts. This is what we're looking for. When you're involved in a game defensively, the ball comes to score goals you're more clever, more precise. Gundogan scores goals, he can do it. Sometimes it's his fault, sometimes he doesn't move.
"For example at Crystal Palace he didn't move, I said 'you didn't play good today'. Other days it is our fault, like in Leipzig we didn't find him. Sooner or later we're working a bit, everyone we try to make the process quicker.
"Once we break the holding midfielder we have to be quicker. People think it depends on the line-up we'll play slowly, comfortable. The mentality is always been so so aggressive. Sometimes we cannot do it because the opponent is there."
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