Manchester City easily cleared the Luton Town hurdle in the FA Cup. Erling Haaland once again surpassed himself.
With a whopping five goals, former BVB star Erling Haaland took Manchester City a step further in the FA Cup. The Norwegian scored in the 3rd, 18th, 40th, 55th and 58th minutes of the competition against Premier League opponents Luton Town in the round of 16 and almost single-handedly secured the 6-2 win (3: 1) his team at Kenilworth Road. Mateo Kovačić also contributed a goal for City (72nd). Jordan Clark was successful twice for the home team (45th, 52nd).
With the five goals, Haaland now has 27 competitive goals this season. He only needed 30 games to do this. The 23-year-old has scored 17 goals in the Premier League alone, putting him at the top of the top scorers list.
| 1 | Erling HaalandMan City | 21 | 0.8 | 3 | 17 | ||
| 2 | Mohamed SalahLiverpool | 21 | 0.71 | 4 | 15 | ||
| 3 | Jarrod BowenWest Ham | 25 | 0.56 | 0 | 14 | ||
| 3 | Dominic SolankeBournemouth | 25 | 0.56 | 1 | 14 | ||
| 3 | Ollie Watkinsvilla | 26 | 0.53 | 0 | 14 |
The success against Luton Town was the next step for Manchester City on the way to defending their FA Cup title. Last year, coach Pep Guardiola’s team defeated city rivals Manchester United in the final. The duel between the two clubs is also scheduled for the weekend in the league.
That’s how the game went
The game started with a dream start for City. Ex-Bundesliga star Kevin De Bruyne put it across to Haaland in the penalty area, who just had to push in. A quarter of an hour later, the striker was there again after the Belgian’s assist and increased the score.
Haaland subsequently missed the chance for a flawless hat trick twice when he was denied by Luton keeper Krul. Shortly before the break, the Dutchman was powerless when the City attacker lobbed over him. De Bruyne provided the assist for the third time.
Luton then struck back out of nowhere – and how. Clark hit the corner like a dream. The former Bielefeld goalkeeper Ortega in the guests’ box had no chance. With the score 1:3 we went into the locker room.
After the break, the Premier League promoted team shocked the English champions again. Again Clark was the scorer. Suddenly tension arose. But Haaland knew how to dampen this considerably with his fourth goal three revolutions later. A fourth time the assist provider was De Bruyne.
Luton’s fighting spirit was broken. Haaland scored his fifth goal, this time assisted by Bernardo Silva. Goalkeeper Krul didn’t look good and let the centrally shot ball pass. Kovačić completed half a dozen.