Some records last forever. Some last a mere 94 years. Since Tommy Johnson scored 38 times in 1928-29, no one in a Manchester City shirt had matched him. Until, with up to 19 games and perhaps almost three months of his season remaining, Erling Haaland surged past him in an extraordinary display of goalscoring. The Champions League is supposed to be the hardest competition in the sport but Haaland had five goals inside an hour of a knockout tie against the club who were semi-finalists two seasons ago.
Records are tumbling, and not merely City’s club best that was set before the Wall Street Crash and which lasted for half a century after Johnson’s death. The most by a City player in a Champions League campaign was Riyad Mahrez’s seven last year. Haaland cruised past that to become the top scorer in this season’s competition. He became the quickest player to 30 Champions League goals in just 25 games and now has a total of 33 goals. After four hat-tricks already in his brief City career, he scored his fifth on Tuesday night. Only Luiz Adriano and Lionel Messi had previously done that in a Champions League game and, had Pep Guardiola not removed him for the final half-hour, the competition’s maiden double hat-trick seemed on the cards.
