Twitter erupts as Erling Haaland sets staggering UEFA Champions League record
Erling Haaland's brace last night led Borussia Dortmund into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, as he helped them beat Sevilla 5-4 on aggregate in the Round of 16 of Europe's most coveted competition.
Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla finished the second leg of the tie on equal terms, drawing out a 2-2 result. However, Dortmund's 3-2 win in the first leg gave them the upper hand as they went on to knock the La Liga side out of the competition and book their berth in the next round.
Notably, Erling Haaland was involved in all three goals in the first leg as well, scoring twice and assisting the other one. Last night's brace gave him his 19th and 20th UEFA Champions League goals and ensured that he set several competition records.
Record-laden UEFA Champions League night for Erling Haaland
The 20-year-old set a staggering record of becoming the fastest player to reach 20 goals in the competition, doing so in just 14 games - 10 games fewer than the previous record holder, Harry Kane. For context, Cristiano Ronaldo (popularly known as Mr. Champions League) needed 56 appearances to score 20 goals in the competition, while Lionel Messi needed 40 appearances to score the same tally.
Erling Haaland also became the youngest player ever to score 20 goals in the UEFA Champions League, doing so at the age of 20 years and 231 days, beating the likes of Kylian Mbappe (21 years and 355 days) and Lionel Messi (22 years 266 days). Additionally, Haaland is now the only player in history to have scored 20 goals in the Champions League before the age of 21.
He also became the first Norwegian to reach the 20-goal mark, bettering the record held by Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who had netted 19 goals in the competition during his time as a player.
Last night's brace further extended his lead as the leading goal-scorer in the ongoing edition of the UEFA Champions League as he took his tally to 10 goals - two more than Lionel Messi (4) and Cristiano Ronaldo (4) combined this season.
Following the second-leg match between Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla last night, managers of both sides heaped praise on Erling Haaland. Dortmund manager Edin Terzic was naturally overjoyed with his side's result. After the match he shared his thoughts with reporters.
"It's been turbulent. We are just happy. It feels really cool. It's not a matter of course for us to get this far. Now to be among the best eight in Europe makes us very happy," he said about the result
"Erling Haaland is just outstanding," he added.
Sevilla's manager Julen Lopetegui was also full of praise for the 20-year-old and said:
"Yes, heโs [Haaland] one of the best players in the world and heโs punished us."
With Erling Haaland continuing to deliver almost relentlessly, this plethora of records should come as no real surprise. However, that didn't stop Twitter from absolutely erupting in praise after his record-breaking performance.
On that note, here is a look at some of the best tweets we found.