Sebastien Haller: Ajax striker is first player to score in opening six Champions League appearances
- Published
Sebastien Haller joins only Cristiano Ronaldo in scoring in all six games of a Champions League group
Ivory Coast striker Sebastien Haller has made history as the first player to score in his first six Champions League appearances.
Haller hit a penalty as Ajax, already into the last 16 as Group C winners, beat Sporting Lisbon 4-2 on Tuesday.
He is only the second player - after Cristiano Ronaldo - to score in all six group games in a single Champions League season.
Ronaldo scored in all six group games for Real Madrid in 2017-18.
Haller now has 10 goals in this season's Champions League - and only Ronaldo, with 11 in 2015-16, has bettered that in the group stages.
The former West Ham striker, 27, has passed Alessandro del Piero (Juventus, 1995-96), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid, 2013-14) and Erling Braut Haaland (RB Salzburg, 2019-20) who all scored in their first five Champions League outings
After his penalty gave Ajax an early lead, Sporting equalised through Nuno Santos in the 22nd minute.
But Brazilian Antony restored the Dutch side's advantage just before half-time after a horrible defensive error by the visitors.
David Neres extended Ajax's advantage after 58 minutes before Steven Berghuis added the fourth, but Sporting got a late consolation when Bruno Tabata's thunderous side-footed shot crashed home off the underside of the bar.
Ajax topped Group C with a maximum 18 points while the Portuguese champions, who had already been confirmed runners-up, finished with nine, using the last group match to give several young players a first run-out in European competition.
The match was played behind closed doors because of Dutch government restrictions imposed following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the Netherlands.