Pep Guardiola opted to substitute Erling Haaland in Tuesday night’s UCL clash against RB Leipzig, where he had scored five goals for Manchester City in their 7-0 victory. This decision generated some reactions, as the Spanish coach wanted to prevent the Norwegian star from having all his “cake” eaten up too soon.
At the age of only 22, Haaland put in an impressive performance on the pitch at the Etihad Stadium last night, completing a hat-trick before the first half of the match had ended. Coming on in the second half, Haaland added two more goals to his tally and seemed on track to break the long-standing record of a double hat-trick set by Lionel Messi. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as Guardiola frustrated his ambition during the last 16 second-leg match.
After the UCL match on Tuesday, Haaland expressed his desire to score a double hat trick and noted that he would have been the first player ever to score six goals in a single Champions League game. Guardiola, however, explained that he took Haaland off the pitch for a purpose and noted that if the 22 year old had achieved this milestone, his life would be boring. The Spanish manager expressed that Haaland has something to aim for.