Erling Haaland gets his second 10/10 rating from L’Equipe this season after five-goal display
Erling Haaland has made history by becoming the only player in history to earn a rare 10 out of 10 rating from L’Equipe twice in the same season.
The French publication gave him the perfect rating following his brilliant five-goal performance in Man City’s 7-0 win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League round of 16 second leg.
Haaland, earlier this season, joined the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Robert Lewandowski, when he first received a 10/10 after scoring a hat-trick and providing two assists in City’s 6-3 win. over Manchester United in October.
By achieving the feat again just five months later, he joins PSG star Messi as the only player to achieve the feat twice during his career.
However, he is in a league of his own for hitting the perfect mark twice in the same season. It’s quite an achievement given that last night’s performance was only the 16th time L’Equipe has given a 10/10 mark.
Erling Haaland scored five goals for Manchester City in their 7-0 win over RB Leipzig
L’Equipe has given Haaland the rare 10/10 rating for the second time this season, with the French publication comparing the prolific Norwegian striker to the movie character ET.
L’Equipe on its front page compared Haaland to ET, with an image of Haaland holding up his finger, which had a light coming from it like the character in the movie.
They also described him as a ‘cyborg’ who ‘devastated everything’. and said Haaland gave RB Leipzig’s highly rated defender Josko Gvardiol a “nightmare”.
In their official ratings along with the 10/10 mark, they wrote: “The Norwegian striker signed a historic quintuplet (22, 24, 45 + 1, 55, 57) in the Champions League round of 16, confirming even more so the exceptional season he is in the process of achieving.
Beyond these goals, he was very useful in the game and in the aggressive pressure of his team.
L’Equipe ratings are known to be notoriously harsh, and it is rare to see a player receive their highest rating.
Kylian Mbappe was only awarded a memorable 9/10 for scoring a hat-trick in France’s World Cup final loss to Argentina.
Since last night’s match, the closest rating to Haaland came from Kevin De Bruyne, who scored an 8 after scoring a goal and an assist.
L’Equipe’s ratings are notoriously harsh, with the closest rating to Haaland coming in the form of Kevin De Bruyne, who received an 8 from the French publication for his goal and assist.
Haaland broke City’s single-season scoring record by going up to 39 goals in last night’s win
The rest of the City team largely received grades of five or six, with goaltender Ederson earning just a five despite keeping a clean sheet. For RB Leipzig, five players received a rating of two.
It was a record-breaking performance from Haaland, who joined Messi and former Shakhtar Donetsk striker Luiz Adriano as the only players to score five goals in a Champions League game.
The Norwegian accomplished the remarkable feat within 58 minutes of Tuesday’s comfortable victory, and he was hoping to stay on to claim his double hat-trick before Pep Guardiola deflected it away.
Haaland also surpassed City’s all-time goalscoring record in a single season, set by Tommy Johnson in 1929.
Johnson’s haul was 38, and Haaland has plenty of time to build on the 39 he’s scored so far this season.
After the game, Haaland said: ‘We work on pressing, especially at home we have to run and press. We are very good receiving the ball.
‘In my opinion, we should do this more. i think we can use this [pressing] more, there’s more space for the guys to play in the middle.’
Haaland joins Lionel Messi as the only player to achieve a 10/10 rating from L’Equipe twice during his career.
Kylian Mbappe only earned a memorable 9/10 rating for scoring a hat-trick in the World Cup final
Haaland added: ‘I told him [Guardiola] I would love to score a double hat-trick, but what can I do? I’m blurry in my head.
“I remember shooting but not thinking. She was so tired after my celebrations.
‘My super strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? Lots of goals, I didn’t think so.
‘I was just trying to get it into the back of the net. A lot of it is being quick mentally and trying to put it where the goalkeeper isn’t.”