Sébastien Haller has not stopped this season in the Champions League. Against Benfica (2-2), he scored his 11th goal in 7 matches, making him the only player to have achieved such a feat in this competition.
Who will stop Sebastian Haller this season in the Champions League? That question is worth asking. The Ivorian international has been impressing with every game he's played in the long-eared cup. With Ajax, Haller has struck again. For his 11th goal in this competition. Nobody has done better than him. Or maybe you have to go back 46 years and dust off the archives to find a player who has achieved such a feat. Ruud Geels scored 11 goals at this stage of the competition in the 1975-76 season. Although the competition (European Champion Clubs' Cup) was not called the Champions League, which officially started in 1992. So Haller is the first player in the history of the UEFA CL to score 11 times in seven matches.
Yet Haller's evening had started badly. The Elephants striker helped the hosts to an equalizer in the 26th minute after Tadic's 18th minute goal had given Ajax the lead at Benfica. Only three minutes later, Haller made amends for his mistake, allowing his team to go back in front (2-1, 29'). Benfica pushed on and managed to get back into the game in the 72nd minute. Nothing more will be scored. Final score: 2-2. Moroccans Adel Taarabt (Benfica) and Noussair Mazraoui (Ajax) were in the starting line-up for this match.
In the other round of 16 first leg of the evening, Manchester United without its Africans Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast) and Hannibal Mejbri, (Tunisia) was held in check by Atletico Madrid (1-1) who had lined up from the start the Central African Geoffrey Kondogbia.
