Guardiola: 'Haaland will be bored if he scores six goals in a game'

"Haaland scored five goals in 60 minutes, no more," Guardiola said after the game. "If he plays 90 minutes, who knows what he can do."

When asked why he replaced Haaland in the 63rd minute when he had already scored five goals, Guardiola said, laughing: "If he scores six goals in a game at the age of 22, he will be bored in the future."

Man City beat Leipzig 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium, with five goals from Haaland, one for Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne. Guardiola's teachers and students entered the quarterfinals with a final 8-1 victory. "If he doesn't score two or three goals, Haaland is often criticized," added the Spaniard. "Today he scored five goals despite only touching the ball about 30 times. Haaland is a great guy with an unbelievable fighting spirit, and he is a gift to Man City."

Haaland became only the second player in Champions League history to score five goals in a knockout match, after Lionel Messi in 2012. Coincidentally, Guardiola both coached these two players at the time. The 52-year-old coach also saw Robert Lewandowski score five goals in nine minutes for Bayern Munich against Wolfsburg in 2015.

Guardiola is glad that Man City finally has a striker with a goal-scoring instinct like Haaland, after Sergio Aguero. But he also did not forget to praise other players. "At the Etihad, we scored four goals against Real Madrid, six against Monaco, four against Tottenham. The team is usually eliminated because of conceding too many goals, but now City defend very well."

The former Barca and Bayern coach also said that Man City played wonderfully from start to finish, with or without the ball. Not only Haaland, every player performed convincingly. He also praised midfielder Bernardo Silva in particular. "He has the ability to put pressure on three opponents in one move. No one else in the world can do that," said Guardiola.

Before the match, Guardiola advised Haaland and De Bruyne to play simple football. These two stars both impressed Leipzig. According to Whoscored statistics, Haaland received 10 points, and De Bruyne also received 9.5 points. "De Bruyne played at an unbelievable pace in this game, this is the De Bruyne we know. He hasn't performed like that many times this season, but today nobody could stop him."

Guardiola has won the Champions League twice with Barca in 2009 and 2011, but has not yet repeated this achievement with Bayern and Man City. Victory over Leipzig helped Man City reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the sixth time in a row under him. "Don't worry, I will always be the loser in the Champions League," he said. "Whether we win, or win three times in a row, I'm still a loser."