9 | Erling Haaland - 2022/23 Performances

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Regarding Haaland being subbed off with 30 min left yesterday- I found this article with a Pep quote at the end, for everyone wondering the reason why he was subbed:

CNN —
Erling Haaland turned in another record-breaking performance as he scored five goals in Manchester City’s emphatic victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

Haaland score a first-half hat-trick before adding two more goals after the interval in City’s 7-0 win over the German side to complete an 8-1 aggregate victory over two legs in their last-16 tie.

Haaland was given a standing ovation by fans at the Etihad Stadium when he was substituted in the 63rd minute on Tuesday.

İlkay Gündoğan and Kevin De Bruyne grabbed the other two goals as City cruised into the Champions League quarterfinals.

But the evening was all about Haaland and his seemingly insatiable desire to put the ball in the back of the net.
The 22-year-old surpassed numerous records over the course of the game; notably becoming City’s highest goalscorer in a single season as broke Tommy Johnson’s record of 38 goals set in 1928/29.

The Norwegian international now has 39 goals in 36 games – and it’s only March.

Haaland also became the fastest and youngest player to reach 30 goals in the Champions League, as well as the youngest player to score five times in a single Champions League game.

Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano are the only other players to have scored five goals in a Champions League match.

“My super strength is scoring goals,” Haaland told BT Sport. “A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not.

“I was so tired after my celebrations,” he then quipped.

City manager Pep Guardiola lavished praised on the prolific Haaland.

“Five goals, what can I say?” Guardiola said. “I said many times, he’s a joyful guy. His mood in the locker room is always happiness.

“He is a gift to all of us. He is a huge competitor, his mentality is there. He scored five goals which is not easy.”

The Norwegian striker now has five hat-tricks this season and looks set to smash the record for the most goals in a Premier League season – he currently has 28 and the record is 34 held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, with City still to play 11 league games.

And it wasn’t just the volume of goals which astounded on-lookers on Tuesday, it was the variety of the finishes.

From decisively slotting home from the penalty spot for his opener to being first to every rebound or loss clearance to punish Leipzig the irrepressible Haaland showed why he is such a goalscoring predator.

Guardiola, who was Messi’s coach at Barcelona in 2012 when he scored five goals against Bayer Leverkusen, said he didn’t know at the time when he substituted Haaland that the Norwegian had equaled the Argentine’s record.

“If he achieves this milestone at 22, his life will be boring!” Guardiola said. “Now he has a target to do it in the future, that’s why I made the substitution.

“I didn’t know it happened with Messi, they told me. I made a substitution because normally when a game is over and I want use as many players as possible.”



 
Incredible how this season’s record is already dwarfing what Aguero achieved scoring wise in a season.
 
Incredible he's been here like 6-7 months and already has a number of the media trying to do the mental gymnastics of how they would rather have a player score less goals in a seemingly 'better' way.

Had a feeling he was going to bag 4+ in a game this season, just wasn't sure when it was going to happen, kind of hope he does the same in the prem soon too as I want him to break the scoring record this season.

Scary that this is Erling in a team that is really just getting used to having an out and out striker playing with them.

Not sure I'll ever be able to thank Charlie Kane enough for his work to allow us to get Erling.
 
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