Haaland says Mbappe's hat-trick heroics vs Barca inspired him during Sevilla win


Erling Haaland admitted his Champions League brace against Sevilla was inspired by Kylian Mbappe's hat-trick in Paris Saint-Germain's 4-1 thrashing of Barcelona.

Mbappe put Barcelona to the sword at the Nou Camp on Tuesday by netting his hat-trick to all-but secure PSG's progression to the last-eight of the competition.

But on Wednesday it was Haaland's turn to grab the headlines as he netted an emphatic brace during Borussia Dortmund's 3-2 victory away at Sevilla in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie.

And after putting Dortmund in the driving seat of their last-16 tie, Haaland admitted Mbappe's heroics in the Nou Camp drove him on.

The 20-year-old striker told Norwegian broadcaster Viaplay: 'It was good to score goals.

'I love the Champions League and when I saw Mbappe score the hat-trick yesterday I got free motivation, so thanks to him.

'He scored some nice goals and I got a good boost from him.'

Both Haaland and Mbappe are continuing to set European football alight and the pair look set to dominate at the top of the game for years to come, finally taking the burden of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Haaland's goals on Wednesday moved him on to a remarkable 18 in 13 Champions League matches.

And he is on course to overtake Mbappe as the player to score the most goals in Europe's top competition before his 21st birthday.

The Norwegian showed his potential by scoring eight times in the group stage with RB Salzburg, which earned him his move to Dortmund in January 2019.

Haaland has now scored 10 times for the Germans in seven games in the Champions League, toppling Roy Makaay as the player to score 10 goals in the competition for one team in the fewest amount of games.

Makaay scored 10 goals in 10 Champions League games for Bayern Munich between 2003 and 2004.

Going off Haaland's latest quotes regarding Mbappe, the Norwegian has clearly put PSG's antics last season against Dortmund to the back of his mind.

After PSG knocked Dortmund out of last term's Champions League during the last-16 stage at the Parc des Princes,  the French side's players - including Mbappe - mocked Haaland by mimicking his trademark meditation celebration.

Neymar also also brought the meditation act out after he opened the scoring last year at the Parc des Princes, as PSG stars seemed to retaliate following Haaland's celebration during the first leg which Dortmund had won.

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