Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 - Second Leg - Manchester City v RB Leipzig - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - March 14, 2023 Manchester City's Erling Braut Haaland celebrates with the match ball after scoring five goals after the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Erling Haaland said it was his speed of thought that marked him apart as he fired Manchester City into the Champions League quarter-finals with five goals in a 7-0 demolition of RB Leipzig on Tuesday.
City striker Haaland led Pep Guardiola's side to an aggregate 8-1 rout, after a one-sided last-16 second leg at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
"I'm blurry in my head. I remember shooting but not thinking," Haaland, who became the third player in Champions League history to score five goals in a single game, told BT Sport. "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 (through). 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."
Haaland, who has now scored 10 goals in six Champions League games this season, said that the team dedicated time in training to work on pressing on the eve of the clash.
"Especially at home we have to run and press. We are so good at getting the ball," he said.
"I think we can use (pressing) more, there is more space for the guys in between to play. Compared to last year and now we can play with a striker in behind and that's what I'm trying to bring.
"I told (Guardiola) I would love to score a double hat-trick but what can I do?," he added on being substituted in the 63rd minute, six minutes after netting his fifth goal of the night.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
