The “monster” strikes again: An incredible Erling Haaland decides the historic Manchester derby. His stats include three goals and two assists. The Norwegian breaks records again – and not only his former teammate Mats Hummels is amazed.
Erling Haaland didn’t have enough even after the final whistle of a historic derby. He puffed out his cheeks, indicated an incredulous shake of the head – then he went hunting for the game ball as a trophy hunter. With success: After three goals and two assists for Manchester City in the 6: 3 (4: 0) against United, the display case of the sensational striker gets a new exhibit.
“Six goals, that’s wonderful,” enthused Haaland in the Sky interview. “What else is there to say about that?” He generously passed the second ball to Phil Foden, who also scored three times. Never before have there been so many goals in the Manchester derby.
City humiliated United for 90 minutes and that was down to Haaland first and foremost. After Foden’s 1-0 (8th) and a shot by ?lkay Gündo?an (19th) the 22-year-old hit the post with his head. Curiously, his opponent in this scene was United’s much smaller midfielder Christian Eriksen (34th).
Three minutes later, Haaland grabbed a cross from Kevin de Bruyne and scored his 13th goal in his eighth league game. De Bruyne has now played 94 goals, more than any other City player in Premier League history.
Before the break, Haaland was allowed to play a cross pass in the penalty area past three United professionals – Foden (44th) also scored for the second time. There were many United fans who left the Etihad Stadium after that. “Wow, what a monster,” wrote Haaland’s former teammate Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund) on Twitter: Fortunately, the Norwegian is “now playing in another country”.
In the continuation of a spectacle, Antony (56th) scored the fantastic first goal for the guests, with Cristiano Ronaldo only sitting on the bench. Then Haaland (64th) struck again, it was his third hat-trick in a row – and he then played again for Phil Foden (72nd): The hosts got their second triple goal scorer of the day. After that, Anthony Martial (84th/90th, penalty kick) was allowed to put in two more for the Reds. The humiliation remained.
The sky-blue Citizens are still not leaders. Arsenal continue to lead the field with 21 points from eight games after beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 in Saturday’s north London derby. City has accumulated 20 points.
Haaland had been looking forward to this game since the day it was presented. He hardly dared to say the opponent’s name, he said at the time: “But for me the most important duel will be against United.” Now he has used the derby to make history. He is the first player to manage to score three goals in three games in a row in the Premier League. He is also the player in the league to score three hat-tricks in the fewest games. It took him just eight games to do so, and his closest rival in the stats is Michael Owen, who once needed 48 games.
