The Champions League is the Olympus of football. And all the stars of the beautiful sport dream of starring feats in the highest continental competition to forge themselves as legends. Specifically, the best strikers in the world aspire to make their mark in the tournament by signing as many goals as possible. The historical classification of top scorers in the Champions League is surely the most eagerly awaited battle for every good striker worth his salt, but it is not the only record with the ability to attract attention throughout the world. Undoubtedly, becoming the player who has scored the most goals in the same Champions League match is another highly coveted trophy.
And who has scored the most goals in a Champions League match? That question is running like wildfire on search engines these days after Erling Haaland’s latest all-consuming display. In the second leg of the round of 16 of the 2022/2023 UEFA Champions League, Manchester City destroyed German Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium by an incontestable 7-0 result that obviously gave Pep Guardiola’s team a pass to the quarterfinals after the draw at 1 in the first leg in Germany.
In that match, Haaland drilled Janis Blaswich’s goal up to five times. The Norwegian striker’s return began with a penalty shot in the 22nd minute of the first half and, before the break, he scored another two goals, one with a tremendous header (24th minute) and another after a rebound (45 2). . Already in the second half, the City attacker signed other goals (minutes 53 and 57). Pure show.
Before Erling Haaland’s performance against Leipzig, only two other players had managed to score five goals in the same game. The last to achieve this was the Brazilian Luiz Adriano, who in 2014 achieved the particular hand of him as a striker for Shakhtar Donetsk, a team that struck down Bate Borisov at home 0-7 on the third day of the group stage.
Haaland and Adriano share the record with Leo Messi, who in 2012 scored five goals against Bayer Leverkusen to become the first player to score that figure in a single Champions League match since the tournament was created in 1992. Barcelona beat the German side 7-1 to secure their place in the quarter-finals, but all eyes were on the then 24-year-old Argentine.
You have to go back to the 1979/1980 season to find the previous player to score five goals in a game in the highest continental competition, when this was the European Cup. It was Soren Lerby, Ajax striker.
All forwards who signed a poker in Europe (Champions League and European Cup):
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
