Although he scored a hat-trick for Man City for the 8th time, this is the first time Erling Haaland has done this at Etihad’s home field since he joined The Citizens in 2022.
Notably, the hat-trick scored by Haaland in the first half was all assisted by midfielder Kevin de Bruyne. Haaland broke the deadlock in the third minute when he scored from close range after De Bruyne’s cross from the left wing.
The score was 2-0 for the away team 15 minutes later when Haaland ran in front of the goal and put a low shot past goalkeeper Tim Krul.
The Norwegian striker completed his hat-trick in the 40th minute when he ran smartly to receive another pass from his teammate, dribbled past the Dutch goalkeeper and easily scored into an empty net.
Although Luton scored two goals in the second half, Erling Haaland continued to “bomb” the away team’s net to win the final score 6-2.
This is the second time the striker born in 2000 has scored a repoker (5 goals) for Man City, when last time Haaland scored against Leipzig in the Champions League last March.
This achievement of scoring 5 goals twice helped Haaland match the records of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. He also became the first player to score at least five goals in an FA Cup match for a top-flight club since George Best’s hat-trick against Northampton in 1970.
Meanwhile, De Bruyne’s hat-trick of assists for Haaland is the first time a Premier League player has assisted 3 goals for a player since October 2022.
It was in the Champions League when Diogo Jota assisted Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah three times against Rangers.
Despite missing most of the season due to a hamstring injury, De Bruyne has the right to boast of having the most assists for Man City this season. In just 12 appearances this season, he had 12 assists and scored 2 goals. As for Haaland, he has scored 27 goals in all competitions this season.