Pep Guardiola addresses rumours of stopping Erling Haaland from breaking Messi's record

Pep Guardiola revealed he wasn't aware that Erling Haaland was on the verge of breaking Lionel Messi's record in the Champions League. Haaland etched his name in history as the Norwegian forward pumped in five goals past RB Leipzig in the Champions League round of 16. Alongside Messi and Haaland, Luiz Adriano is the only other player to have achieved this feat in UCL.

Haaland looked to be on his way to breaking the records for scoring the most number of goals in a single match but the manager decided to take him off as Julian Alvarez took his place in the playing eleven.

Pep Guardiola makes big Lionel Messi claim

When asked Pep claimed he didn't know that the 22-year-old could have claimed such feat. “If he achieves this milestone at 22, 23, it will be boring his life. He wouldn’t have a target to reach in the future. Here and everywhere. That’s why I make a substitution.

“I didn’t know about Messi with Leverkusen (when he scored five against them in 2012), but I make a substitution because normally when the game is over we want them to play. He scored five goals. The problem is every time we don’t score two or three he will be criticised. This is the reality.”

Haland reiterated that he told his manager about his disappointment for not scoring a double hat trick in the match. “I told him [Guardiola] when I went off, ‘I would love to score a double hat-trick’. But what can I do? I had to go off. It’s a big night. Firstly, I’m proud to play in this competition, I love it. Five goals! To win 7-0 is amazing.”

He further added his duty is to score goals for his team and he didn't really scrutinise his strikes against Leipzig. “I’m blurry in my head. I remember shooting but not thinking. I was so tired after my celebrations.

“My super strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? A lot of goals today, I didn’t think. I was just trying to get it into the back of the net. A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not.”