Erling Haaland equalled a Champions League record with a five-goal haul as Manchester City eased into the quarter-finals following their 7-0 hammering of RB Leipzig on Tuesday.

Haaland also established a new club record for goals scored in a season with 39, while Pep Guardiola’s squad advanced to the quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive year with an 8-1 aggregate victory.

“My super strength is scoring goals,” said Haaland. “A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not.”

City, owned by Abu Dhabi, have yet to win the Champions League, but they have never had a striker of Haaland’s caliber to make the difference in the knockout rounds.

At age 22, he has scored 33 goals in 25 appearances in the premier club competition in Europe.

“Firstly, I’m proud to play in this competition, I love it,” added Haaland. “Five goals! To win 7-0 is amazing.”

The weather resembled Haaland’s native Norway, but City did not succumb to the pressure and kept their Champions League hopes alive.

After a 1-1 draw in eastern Germany three weeks ago, the match was delicately poised, but an injury-ravaged Leipzig side was never a match for their star-studded opponents.

“That was an incredible performance,” said Leipzig coach Marco Rose.

“They didn’t allow us to control the game at all, at no stage of the game. The bottom line is disappointing for us but they really deserved it.”

Guardiola kept Kevin De Bruyne on the bench for City’s 1-0 Premier League victory at Crystal Palace on the weekend, but the Belgian was back to his best upon his return to the starting lineup.

Ilkay Gundogan should have scored on De Bruyne’s inviting cross after just three minutes.

VAR identified a handball by Benjamin Henrichs that resulted in a penalty that neither the City players nor the crowd noticed, resulting in City’s opening goal.