Champions League debacle
Superstar Erling Haaland dismantles RB Leipzig with a pack of five
03/14/2023, 10:50 p.m
Bundesliga club RB Leipzig has been eliminated from the Champions League. In an unequal duel, Manchester City only helps the VAR. Then superstar Erling Haaland shows a performance from another planet. He scored five goals in just 35 minutes. After BVB, RBL is also eliminated in England.
Erling Haaland sneered after his substitution with İlkay Gündoğan, the laughs of the professionals from RB Leipzig were long gone. The hopeless DFB Cup winner came under the wheels in the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League after the five-goal gala of the unstoppable goal machine Haaland at Manchester City with 0: 7 (0: 3), it was the highest European Cup bankruptcy the club history.
After Haaland’s flawless hat-trick in the first round (22′, hand penalty after video evidence/24’/45’+2), Gündoğan (49′), Haaland again (53’/57′) and Kevin De Bruyne (90’+2) sealed the deal ignominious defeat. The RB hopes for the second quarter-finals, which had arisen after the 1-1 in the first leg, ended abruptly. Haaland now has a proud 39 goals in 36 competitive games for City to his credit. “It doesn’t feel good and it hurts. We didn’t have a chance,” said Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg on Prime Video. “We were more or less eaten up out there,” added Benjamin Henrichs.
Leipzig, which had three nominal sixes in Amadou Haidara, Kevin Kampl and Konrad Laimer, had little access under City’s constant pressure – and wobbled in defense. After a cross from De Bruyne, Gündoğan (3rd) was suddenly completely free, but chased the ball over the goal from a few meters before Haaland started to open up and Leipzig could hardly get out of their own half.
The misfortune begins with the VAR
With a long ball on the Norwegian, Nathan Ake easily overturned the RB defense, goalkeeper Janis Blaswich (11th) made a strong save in a one-on-one with Haaland. When RB had survived the hosts’ first wave of attacks, the Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic intervened.
As a result of an aerial duel between Henrichs and City’s Rodri, the ball involuntarily jumped into the national player’s hand – nevertheless, according to the video images, Vincic pointed to the point. For former Bundesliga referee Manuel Gräfe, this was a wrong decision.
“Slowly I can’t think of anything anymore. Simply grotesque! Arms in a completely natural position at the appropriate height and then also from behind and only slightly touched on the upper arm,” tweeted the former referee. Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels demanded on his account: “We need a change in the hand penalty decisions. It’s going in the wrong direction.”
Pep Guardiola shows mercy
Haaland safely sunk the penalty and followed up just two minutes later. If De Bruyne only hit the crossbar with a powerful shot from a distance, the 22-year-old headed the ball over the line. Although Leipzig dared a little more as a result, the guests couldn’t get City under control. First Gündoğan (39′) tested Blaswich from an acute angle before Haaland scored a hat-trick after Rúben Dias had initially headed to the aluminum.
After the break, the Haaland madness continued. City scrambled the RB rows, Gündoğan aimed more precisely than before half-time after preparatory work from Jack Grealish – and Haaland seemed to magically attract the balls. Twice he inimitably prevailed in the fray after corners from De Bruyne and converted ice cold.
Only Luiz Adriano (2014) for Shakhtar Donetsk in a 7-0 win at BATE Borisov and Lionel Messi (2012) in a 7-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen had previously scored five goals in a premier class game. The people of Leipzig didn’t even know what happened to them. But City team manager Pep Guardiola showed mercy when he substituted Haaland in the 63rd minute.