London: Erling Haaland scored five as holders Manchester City coasted into the quarterfinals of the FA Cup with a 6-2 victory over Luton Town.
Haaland became the first player to score five or more goals in an FA Cup match for a top-flight club since George Best in 1970, with the first four laid on by Kevin de Bruyne.
And it was team-mate Kevin De Bruyne that assisted each of Haaland’s first four goals as City made light work of a tricky tie at Kenilworth Road.
Haaland took his tally to 26 goals for the season with his first hat-trick away from the Etihad Stadium as he equalled the Club record for most FA Cup goals in a single game.
A trademark City goal opened up an early lead City would never relinquish at Kenilworth Road. Matheus Nunes found De Bruyne with an incisive reverse pass and the Belgian’s cutback was swept home on the stretch by Haaland.
City’s dynamic duo combined again on 18 minutes, as Haaland brought down Stefan Ortega’s pinpoint pass, laid off to De Bruyne and raced onto a quick return pass from his super sidekick to lash the ball under Tim Krul.
City were rampant and Haaland had two bites at the cherry for a third before the half hour mark but was twice denied by veteran Krul. The treble finally arrived on 40 minutes via another De Bruyne assist, this time finished off with a crisp chip over the onrushing Krul.
Luton pulled one back on the stroke of half time when Jordan Clark curling a jaw-dropping effort into the top corner from 25 yards out. From nowhere, the deficit was back to just one shortly after halftime. Clark was again on target, rifling past Ortega after a dinked pass from Ross Barkley.
But six minutes later the tie was settled – Haaland scoring his fourth and fifth goals of the night just three minutes apart and Mateo Kovacic added a sixth before Pep Guardiola rang the changes late on.
–IANS