Last night, Manchester City demolished Leipzig (7:0) and thus walked to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but even in a convincing triumph, Pep Guardiola managed to provoke the anger of the Citizens’ fans. In the 63rd minute, the Spanish strategist decided to replace Erling Haaland and spare him additional efforts in the already decided match but at the same time, he prevented him from scoring the potential sixth goal, with which he would become the first player in the history of the Champions League to do that.UCL: Superhuman Haaland scores five in 35 minutes, lucky Inter head to the quarterfinalsAlthough the Norwegian has equalized with Lionel Messi by sending five balls into the rival’s net, some fans resented Guardiola for denying Haaland the opportunity to surpass the Argentinian. The City strategist was criticized for the decision, and he explained the decision after the game.„If he achieved this milestone at 22, 23 years old, it will be boring, his life. Now he has a target, that’s why I make the substitution. I didn’t know this about Messi against Bayer Leverkusen. but normally when the game is over I want to let all the players play as much as possible. Today he scored five goals and I think he had 30-35 touches and this is what we are looking for. When you are involved in the game, when the time comes to score a goal, you are more precise. It’s difficult to score when you do not touch the ball for 40 minutes. Sometimes it’s his fault. Sometimes he doesn’t move – against Crystal Palace I said to him, ‘You didn’t play good today’ – but other times it’s our fault. Away to Leipzig we didn’t find him in the second half. But we are working to make the process quicker“ explained Guardiola.Haaland breaks the club record for most goals scored in a single season.It’s March.— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 14, 2023 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – LAST 16 ROUNDSecond leg07.03.Chelsea – Dortmund 2-0 (1-0)/Sterling 43, Havertz 53 pen/Benfica – Brugge 5-1 (2-0)/Rafa Silva 38, Ramos 45+2, 57, Joao Mario 71 pen, Neres 77 – Meijer 87/08.03.Tottenham – AC Milan 0-0Bayern Munich – PSG 2-0 (0-0)/Choupo-Moting 61, Gnabry 89/TuesdayPorto – Inter 0-0Man.City – RB Leipzig 7-0 (2-0)/Haaland 22 pen, 23, 45+2, 54, 57, Gundogan 49, De Bruyne 90+2/Wednesday23.00: (2.45) Real Madrid (3.95) Liverpool (2.80)23.00: (1.50) Napoli (4.40) Eintr.Frankfurt (7.50)***odds are subject to change***
