Manchester City secured their place in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarter-finals for the sixth season in a row after Erling Haaland’s five-goal haul inspired them to a 7-0 (8-1 agg) thrashing of RB Leipzig.
After a dominant start on the back of four straight competitive wins, City deservedly took the lead in the 22nd minute, when Haaland converted from the spot after Benjamin Henrichs was penalised for handball in the box.
Leipzig’s uphill task then got all the more difficult just two minutes later, as Kevin De Bruyne’s thunderous long-range effort crashed off the bar and straight to Haaland, who nodded home to strengthen the hosts’ grip on the tie.
With HT approaching, City’s Norwegian talisman bundled in a third with the final kick of the half to clinch his treble, giving the hosts an unassailable advantage and stamping their ticket to the quarter-finals.
The hosts came firing out the blocks in the second half, adding a further three goals before the hour mark. The first of those saw Gündoğan finish a brilliant team move with a driven effort into the far corner.
Haaland scored his fourth and fifth goals of the evening shortly after, with a pair of trademark predatory strikes inside the box. Pep Guardiola soon replaced Haaland, as City looked to ease through the final 20 minutes against a Leipzig team comfortably knocked out by the English champions of the day for a second time in three UCL campaigns.
Even without Haaland up front, City weren’t done yet, and imposed further suffering on their visitors with almost the final kick. As the clock ticked past 90 minutes, the brilliant De Bruyne added late icing to the cake with a sensational long-range goal, as the blue half of Manchester extended their winning streak on home soil against German opponents across all UEFA competitions to 10 matches in truly merciless style.