So close…
Erling Haaland has revealed what he said to Pep Guardiola when taken off on a double hat-trick on Tuesday night.
Haaland had the chance make history and become the first player to ever score six goals in a Champions League game, and it looked like he was about to do it too, but Guardiola took him off the pitch.
Haaland was taken off with just over 30 minutes left on the clock, and he looked certain to grab another goal and make history.
But Guardiola had other ideas, and clearly had one eye on this weekend’s FA Cup tie against Vincent Kompany’s Burnley side.
Erling Haaland on double hat-trick
In an interview after the game, Haaland said: “I told him (Guardiola) when I went off that I wanted to score a double hat-trick, but what can you do? I had to go.
Currently, the most goals scored in a UEFA Champions League match is 5 and was first achieved by Lionel Messi playing for Barcelona against Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou on 7 March 2012.
Guardiola said that he was unaware Haaland could have made history had he scored one more.
Explained: Why Pep Guardiola DENIED Erling Haaland double hat-trick chance in Man City’s Champions League demolition of RB Leipzig (msn.com): “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.”
He also joked that Haaland’s life would be too boring if he were to have scored six goals in one game, and now he has another record to chase.
🗣️ "His life would be boring. Now he has the target to do it in the future." 😅
Pep Guardiola explains why he took Erling Haaland off before he had the chance to break a record and score six goals in a Champions League match pic.twitter.com/uuxQ6KcM7H
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 15, 2023
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