Haaland’s ‘super strength’ is scoring, City’s super strength is Haaland

Erling Haaland said it was his speed of thought that marked him apart as he fired Manchester City into the Champions League quarterfinals 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 [it through in the moment]. 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.

“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.

Haaland virtually wrote his own record book on a thrilling night at the Etihad Stadium, but Guardiola spoiled what might have been one more.

No player in Champions League history has scored six goals in a game.

“If he achieved this milestone, the record, at 22, would be boring, [and] his life; so now he'll have a target to do it in the future, here and everywhere,” Guardiola said. “So that's why I made a substitution.”

Haaland became the third player in Champions League history to score five goals in a game, matching Luiz Adriano, in 2014 for Shakhtar Donetsk, and Lionel Messi, in 2012 for Barcelona — with Guardiola as coach.

“I didn't know with Messi when it was happening against Leverkusen, they told me in the first interview,” Guardiola said.

“But I made a substitution [on Tuesday] because normally when the game is over, I want to let as many players as possible play.

“Haaland equalled Messi's record, but he did it in 60 minutes, it's different. Who knows if he would have played 90 minutes?”

Haaland was a six-foot-four-inch bulldozer in front of the net all night, narrowly missing several other excellent chances in a victory that secured an 8-1 win on aggregate.

Haaland has 33 Champions League goals in his career, reaching the 30-goal mark in 25 games, the fewest ever. He is also the youngest to reach that mark.

Also on Tuesday night Inter Milan reached the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in more than a decade after surviving a late barrage of pressure at Porto to escape with a 0-0 draw that took them through 1-0 on aggregate on Tuesday.

It was a disappointing night for the home fans at a sold-out Dragao stadium as the Portuguese champions tried in vain to wipe out the narrow deficit from the first leg in Italy.

A disciplined Inter seemed content to hold onto their lead and did not face a serious threat until added time.

Then Ivan Marcano's effort was blocked on the goal line by Denzel Dumfries and headers from Mehdi Taremi and Marko Grujic hit the post and bar respectively as Porto finally came alive.

Defender Pepe was then sent off for a second yellow card and Inter joined city rivals AC Milan in the quarterfinal draw, the first time they have reached the last eight since 2006.

With Napoli playing on Wednesday in their second leg at home against Eintracht Frankfurt with a 2-0 advantage earned in Germany, Italy could also have three teams in the Champions League quarters for the first time since 2006.

Reuters