Haaland scored an incredible five goals on Tuesday, effectively ending Red Bull Leipzig’s chances of reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Erling Haaland is the second player ever to get two 10/10 L’Equipe ratings, following Lionel Messi.
The former Borussia Dortmund attacker scored two more goals in the second half after already having a hat-trick before halftime. After Lionel Messi of Barcelona in 2012 and Luiz Adriano of Shakhtar Donetsk in 2014, Haaland became the third player in history to score five goals in a Champions League match.
Haaland has received accolades for his innate ability to score goals and his tireless work ethic while guiding Manchester City’s line. The French publication L’Équipe, which described the Norwegian international as being “from another galaxy,” gave him a flawless 10/10 rating. Haaland has already achieved the top score from the infamously severe French newspaper twice this season. His outstanding performance (three goals and two assists) in his first Manchester derby against Manchester United, which City won 6-3, earned him a 10/10 rating back in October.
Before to that, only Lionel Messi had twice achieved L’Équipe’s top score of 10/10. As he eliminated Arsenal from the Champions League quarterfinals in 2010, the Argentine received initial accolades for his quadruple of goals. Then, two years later, in the Round of 16, he defeated Leverkusen with five goals. Ajax’s Dusan Tadic, Kylian Mbappé, Serge Gnabry, Lucas Moura, Nice’s Carlos Eduardo, Borussia Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski, Aarhus’ goalkeeper Lars Windfeld, Russia’s Oleg Salenko, France’s U21 Franck Sauzée, and Bruno Martini are the other players to get a 10 from L’Equipe.
Haaland following Messi’s Record
Haaland has a great shooting conversion percentage of 32% and has scored the goal every 72 minutes only this season.
It’s interesting to note that just 23% of his goals have been scored with his right foot, whereas 62% have been.
And with 97% of his goals coming from within the box, Haaland is certainly a fox in the box.
Haaland has now scored five hat-tricks this season and is sure to score more.
He is also the youngest player to score 30 goals in the Champions League and the player with the quickest scoring rate following last night’s achievements.