Ivorian senior national team striker Sebastian Haller made UEFA Champions League (UCL) history when his Ajax Amsterdam side played Sporting Lisbon at the Amsterdam Arena on Tuesday night. The ex-West Ham United star became the first player  to score in his first six Champions League games after he found the back of the net with the opening goal of the game on the way to the 4-2 home win for Ajax Amsterdam at the expense of Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon.

Ajax Amsterdam were already into the Champions League knockout stage for this season as Group C winners before they took on Sporting Lisbon in their final group game. On their part, Sporting Lisbon had alsoqualified as the second best team in Group C before the game which ended in a six-goal thriller.

Apart from being the only player to register at least a goal in each of their first six Champions League matches, French-born Ivorian attacker Haller is also the second player to score in six Champions League group stage games after Cristiano Ronaldo who managed the feat during his Real Madrid days. The Portugal international skipper achieved this during the 2017/18 season.

Haller has ten goals in six group stage games and he’s the leading goalscorer in the competition. Only Ronaldo (11 goals) has more goals than the Ivorian international in the history of group stage campaign as far as Europe’s premier club competition is concerned. Ronaldo scored 11 goals in the group stage during the 2015/16 season.

27-year-old Haller has passed the trio of Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus 1995/96), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid 2013/14) and Erling Haaland (Red Bull Salzburg 2019/20) who all scored in their first five Champions League outings.

Haller has been in red-hot form in front of goal since he left West Ham United to join Ajax Amsterdam at the start of the year.