15 March 2023 , 07:58
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Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland has become just the second player to be given a perfect 10 rating from notoriously harsh French publication L'Equipe.
The Norwegian striker achieved the feat as a result of his remarkable performance against Red Bull Leipzig on Tuesday night in the Champions League round-of-16 second-leg. In just 63 minutes worth of playing time, Haaland bagged five goals against the German outfit as City ran riot and won 7-0 on the night, 8-1 on aggregate.
An overwhelming amount of elite-level players go their entire career without being given a perfect 10 rating from L'Equipe, but this is already Haaland's second this season. The first came after the Manchester derby at the Etihad last October in a clash that City won 6-3 and saw their talismanic forward score a hat-trick and assist two.
Just 13 players in history have received a 10 rating from L'Equipe in history, which is a testament to just how difficult it is. Coincidentally, the first two players to do so managed to earn the award in the same match, as France Under-23 stars Franck Sauzee and Bruno Martini were awarded the ratings for their performance in Les Bleus' three-goal victory over Greece in 1988.
Only one other player has achieved two perfect 10 ratings over the course of their career and Haaland is in esteemed company alongside seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi.
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The Argentine's two 10s came in the aftermath of two of his most iconic Champions League performances. The first after he netted all four goals against Arsenal when Barcelona brushed the Gunners aside in 2010.
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Erling Haaland scored five goals in just over an hour against RB Leipzig (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)Two years later, Messi became the first to deliver the perfect performance in the eyes of L'Equipe twice when he netted five in one game against Bayer Leverkusen.
The list of other players to have been credited with a perfect 10 display reads like a who's who of the European elite, containing names such as Robert Lewandowski for his four-goal haul against Real Madrid in 2013 and Kylian Mbappe when he bagged four for France during an 8-0 win over Kazakhstan.
As a result of his ludicrous goal-scoring exploits, Haaland has broken a number of records, such as becoming the youngest player in Champions League history to reach 30 goals in the competition.
While Haaland was no doubt desperate to make history and score a double hat-trick in European club football's most prestigious competition, manager Pep Guardiola deemed five enough and replaced the 22-year-old with Julian Alvarez just after the hour mark.