The qualities to Erling Haaland, master goalscorer, are many and they are varied, and it was Luton Town’s misfortune that they encountered all of them in the space of one evening.
Haaland can, of course, score all flavours of goal. He can run in behind your defence, or he can sniff out the pocket of space in a static penalty area, and he can project himself upon a game to the extent that someone in the opposition does something foolish and gifts him one. All of that happened in the 77 minutes plus stoppage time he played at Kenilworth Road and along the way he scored five goals before the clock had ticked past 60 minutes.
The final 17 he spent on the pitch he just wasted. What went before was the work of a goalscorer at the top of his game and served for his first four by Kevin De Bruyne. It was undoubtedly the case that Luton Town’s high-risk – and low-reward approach – played its part in this night of FA Cup fifth round history. Yet even so, it was the most scored by a single player in a tie in this competition for a top-flight club since George Best walked out the pub and buried six past Northampton Town for Manchester United in 1970.
Haaland ran in behind, he got in position for the cut-back and for his fifth he drilled a shot straight at Tim Krul that the Luton goalkeeper flapped in. It is not even the first time Haaland has scored five for City in a single game, the previous occasion against RB Leipzig in the Champions League was less than one year ago.