Erling Haaland expresses disappointment after early substitution denies chance to break Champions League record

Erling Haaland discloses the words he uttered to Pep Guardiola following his early substitution, which prevented him from having the opportunity to surpass Lionel Messi’s record.

Erling Haaland confesses that he expressed doubt regarding Pep Guardiola’s choice to take him off the pitch, despite scoring five goals during Manchester City’s 7-0 victory against RB Leipzig. The English champions comfortably progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with an overall score of 8-1 against the German team.

By matching Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano’s record of scoring the most goals in a single Champions League match, Erling Haaland secured a place in European football history. Nevertheless, the 22-year-old football prodigy expressed disappointment about missing out on a unique achievement of scoring a double hat-trick, following his substitution in the 63rd minute.

In an interview with BT Sport, Haaland stated, “I informed him [Guardiola] when I was leaving the field, ‘I would have liked to score a double hat-trick.’ But what else could I do? I had to come off.” Haaland also emphasized the significance of the game, expressing his pride in competing in the Champions League and his delight in scoring five goals, while helping his team win 7-0.

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.”

Pep Guardiola, who also managed Lionel Messi when the Argentine scored five goals in a single Champions League match, claimed he was not aware of any records when he decided to substitute Erling Haaland. Guardiola justified his decision by stating that if Haaland had achieved such a milestone at a young age, he would have had nothing left to strive for in the future, which would make his life tedious.

Guardiola explained his reasoning, saying, “If he accomplishes this feat at the age of 22 or 23, his life would become boring. He wouldn’t have any future goals to achieve, both here and elsewhere. That’s why I made the substitution.”

🗣️ "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

🗣️ "Can you talk us through Erling Haaland's performance?"

Pep 🗣️"Er…Five goals." 😬

Pep Guardiola summing up that performance from their goal machine 😅 pic.twitter.com/tyEJRbKEnW
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 15, 2023

“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.”