Football: Haaland hits five to ease Man City into Champions League quarters

MANCHESTER -- Erling Haaland equaled a Champions League record with a five-goal haul to ease Manchester City into the quarter-finals at RB Leipzig's expense with a 7-0 win on Tuesday. 

Haaland also set a new club record for goals in a season of 39 in the process as Pep Guardiola's men reached the last eight for the sixth consecutive season with an 8-1 aggregate victory.

"My super strength is scoring goals," said Haaland. "A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not."

Abu Dhabi-owned City are yet to go all the way in the Champions League, but they have never had a striker of Haaland's quality to make the difference in the latter stages before.

At just 22 he now has 33 goals in 25 appearances in Europe's premier club competition.

"Firstly, I'm proud to play in this competition, I love it," added Haaland. "Five goals! To win 7-0 is amazing."

The snowy weather was more akin to Haaland's homeland, but City did not freeze under the pressure and kept their Champions League dreams alive.

The tie was delicately balanced after a 1-1 draw in eastern Germany three weeks ago, but a Leipzig side depleted by injury never looked like a match for their star-studded opponents.

"That was an incredible performance," said Leipzig coach Marco Rose.

"They didn't allow us to control the game at all, at no stage of the game. The bottom line is disappointing for us but they really deserved it."

Guardiola had kept Kevin De Bruyne in reserve for City's 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in the Premier League at the weekend and on his return to the starting line-up, the Belgian was back to his best.

Ilkay Gundogan should have opened the scoring after just three minutes from De Bruyne's inviting cross.

There was some fortune surrounding City's opener as VAR spotted a handball against Benjamin Henrichs that led to a penalty that neither the City players nor the crowd even noticed.

- Denied record chance -

Haaland fired low to Janis Blaswich's left to maintain his perfect record from the spot for City with his sixth penalty of the season.

Two minutes later it was 2-0 as Haaland teed up De Bruyne, who smashed a shot against the bar, and then showed his speed and strength to power home a header from the rebound.

Haaland had three before half-time as Ruben Dias rose highest to head Jack Grealish's corner onto the post and Amadou Haidara's attempted clearance ricocheted off City's number nine into the net.

Gundogan's classy finish into the far corner four minutes into the second half rubbed more salt into Leipzig's wounds before Haaland started rewriting the record books.

Firstly, he hammered home at the second attempt after Blaswich parried his initial header to match Tommy Johnson's record of 38 goals for City in the 1928-29 season.

Haaland set a new mark with still three months of the campaign to go when he snaffled up another rebound after Blaswich saved from Manuel Akanji.

In the process, he moved level with Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano's record of scoring five goals in a Champions League game.

But Guardiola denied his star striker the chance of another record as he replaced him with Julian Alvarez with 25 minutes remaining.

"If he achieves all these milestones at 22 his life would be boring," joked Guardiola on making the change.

Instead, it was left to De Bruyne to have the final say as he curled a superb strike into the top corner in stoppage time.

Agence France-Presse

Football: Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City win but Chelsea held on Potter debut

PARIS, France -- Erling Haaland scored an acrobatic late winner against his old club as Manchester City beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, while there were hard-earned victories for Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

Meanwhile Chelsea were held by Red Bull Salzburg in their first match under new head coach Graham Potter, as Rangers lost heavily again and Celtic drew with Shakhtar Donetsk.

In Manchester, Haaland took on the club he left in the close season for 60 million euros ($60m, £52m) after two and a half prolific years in the Bundesliga.

Yet it looked like Dortmund might spring a surprise as they went ahead just before the hour mark at the Etihad Stadium when England midfielder Jude Bellingham headed in.

City's equalizer did not come until Kevin De Bruyne set up John Stones to smash in with 10 minutes left, and Haaland got the winner in the 84th minute with an outrageous finish from Joao Cancelo's magnificent cross.

Haaland now has 13 goals in nine games for City, who have two wins from two in Group G.

"In the end we showed what we are," Haaland told BT Sport. "Dortmund were really good today (but) three points is what matters."

City's next two games will be against FC Copenhagen, who drew 0-0 with Sevilla in Denmark.

In London, Potter took charge of Chelsea for the first time but had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Salzburg in Group E, with Raheem Sterling's opener early in the second half being cancelled out by Noah Okafor.

"It has not been easy for the boys, they have responded to us really well over the last few days and it's a point we will have to take and get better," Potter told BT Sport.

Earlier, group rivals AC Milan beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 at San Siro, with Olivier Giroud scoring a penalty before Alexis Saelemaekers and Tommaso Pobega added further goals either side of a Mislav Orsic strike for Dinamo.

- Late goals for Madrid -

Reigning European champions Madrid needed two late goals to beat RB Leipzig 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu and maintain their perfect start in Group F.

Federico Valverde opened the scoring 10 minutes from time after being set up by Vinicius Junior, and substitute Marco Asensio sealed the victory with a tremendous first-time finish in injury time.

Carlo Ancelotti's side are clear at the top of the section from Shakhtar, who rode their luck to claim a 1-1 draw with Celtic.

The Scottish champions went ahead early on when Reo Hatate's ball into the six-yard box went into the net off Artem Bondarenko.

But Shakhtar, playing European home games in Warsaw due to the war in Ukraine, equalized before the half-hour mark via an emphatic finish by Mykhailo Mudryk.

Celtic had chances to win the game, none better than a late strike by Giorgos Giakoumakis that flashed agonizingly wide.

"We'll get our rewards if we keep playing that kind of football and showing that kind of commitment," said Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou.

At least they have a point, in stark contrast to rivals Rangers who lost 3-0 at home to Napoli in Group A.

- PSG come from behind -

In a dramatic second half, Rangers had American defender James Sands sent off for conceding a penalty which Piotr Zielinski had saved, only for Matteo Politano to score the rebound.

However, the referee ordered a retake, and Allan McGregor saved from Zielinski again.

Yet Napoli won another penalty midway through the second half, and this time Politano scored from the spot, before Giacomo Raspadori and Tanguy Ndombele added further goals.

The game had been postponed by 24 hours due to policing issues related to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and Rangers ignored a decision by UEFA to reject their request to play the British national anthem before kick-off.

Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to beat Maccabi Haifa 3-1 in Israel as their superstar front three all scored.

Suriname international Tjaronn Chery put the home side ahead only for Lionel Messi to equalize before the break.

Messi then set up Kylian Mbappe to make it 2-1 midway through the second half, and Neymar sealed a second win in as many Group H games for PSG.

Juventus suffered a second straight defeat, though, as they lost 2-1 at home to Benfica.

Arkadiusz Milik's opener for Juve was cancelled out by Joao Mario's penalty, before David Neres struck Benfica's winner.

Agence France-Presse

Football: Sensational Haaland gives Dortmund 2-1 win over PSG

DORTMUND, Germany - Borussia Dortmund's lethal teenage striker Erling Haaland scored twice in eight minutes to lead them to a 2-1 win over Paris St Germain in their Champions League last 16, first leg on Tuesday.

The Norwegian, 19, who joined in the last transfer window and has eight goals in five Bundesliga matches, stabbed in from close range after a quick-fire passing move in the 69th minute.

He then thundered home an unstoppable shot for his second goal in the 77th, two minutes after PSG's Brazilian forward Neymar had leveled for the French champions.

Haaland, the first Dortmund player to score in his first league, German Cup and Champions League matches, has reached 10 goals in seven games in Europe's elite competition this season, including eight for Salzburg in the group stage, faster than anyone.

He is only the second teenager to net 10 Champions League goals, after Kylian Mbappe, and is the first teenager to score 10 in a single campaign in the competition.

He is also the first player to score with two different teams in the same season in the competition.

"I still need to improve, keep working," Haaland said. "I want to go far in the Champions League. With the second goal I enjoyed the moment."

PSG, who were eliminated at this stage of the competition in the previous three seasons, had fit-again Neymar and French striker Mbappe back in the starting lineup but were almost completely shut out by an efficient Dortmund backline.

FEW CHANCES

"Obviously, maybe we deserved the draw but Dortmund were very good," said PSG defender Thomas Meunier.

"They didn’t lose one game here at home this season and we saw today it is so difficult. We thought they had defensive problems, but we didn’t create many chances."

In a cautious first half the French side had the slight advantage in possession but Dortmund carved out the only real chance after 27 minutes with a curled shot from Jadon Sancho.

Mbappe and Neymar were kept under tight surveillance, with Dortmund defenders Mats Hummels, Lukasz Piszczek -- on his 350th appearance for the club in all competitions -- and Dan Axel Zagadou denying the pair any space to maneuver. 

The Germans' main source of firepower, the livewire Haaland, was also shackled for about an hour before finally finding some space to instinctively round off a quick Dortmund move.

PSG, who will be without midfielder Marco Verratti and Meunier for the return leg after they picked up bookings, drew level through Neymar, who found the net after a fine run down the right by Mbappe. The Brazilian also later hit the post.

But the visitors could do nothing when 17-year-old substitute Giovanni Reyna found Haaland on the edge of the box and the prolific forward released a fiercely struck left-foot shot that gave PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas no chance.

"Everyone played an outstanding game," Dortmund midfielder Emre Can said. "But it was important that we all defended extremely well. It was a big statement from the team, but we know it is not the end, it is just halftime." 

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)

source: news.abs-cbn.com