Haaland reveals what he told Guardiola after being denied chance to break Messi record

The Premier League champions cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with an 8-1 aggregate win over the German side.

Advertisement

Haaland wrote his name in European history by equalling the most goals scored in a Champions League match, alongside Lionel Messi (against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012) and Luiz Adriano (against BATE in 2014).

However, the 22-year-old superstar was dissapointed to be denied a historic double hat-trick after being taken off on 63 minutes.

He told BT Sport: "I told him [Guardiola] when I went off, 'I would love to score a double hat-trick'. But what can I do? I had to go off."

Advertisement

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

Asked which goal was his favourite, Haaland replied: "I'm blurry in my head. I remember shooting but not thinking. I was so tired after my celebrations.

"My super strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? A lot of goals today, I didn't think. I was just trying to get it into the back of the net. A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not."

Advertisement

Advertisement

Messi's five-goal feat also came under Guardiola, but the City boss insisted he was not aware of any records when explaining his decision to remove Haaland from the action.

Guardiola said: "If he achieves this milestone at 22, 23, it will be boring his life. He wouldn't have a target to reach in the future. Here and everywhere. That's why I make a substitution.

"I didn't know about Messi with Leverkusen (when he scored five against them in 2012), but I make a substitution because normally when the game is over we want them to play. He scored five goals.

"The problem is every time we don't score two or three he will be criticised. This is the reality."

Advertisement