Manchester City 6, Burnley 0 (FA Cup Quarter Final)
Erling Haaland notched up his second hat trick in 5 days as Manchester City thrashed Burnley in the FA Cup Quarter Finals.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt was an emotional homecoming for Burnley manager Vincent Kompany – a City legend with his own statue outside the Etihad Stadium – but it will be his old club who make the trip to Wembley in April as they progressed after tricky first half.
City boss Pep Guardiola made seven changes from the side that beat RB Leipzig on Tuesday with the help of five goals from Haaland who retained his place in the side.
Burnley had matched their illustrious hosts for half an hour, forcing errors from them and creating the better chances – Ruben Dias and Stefan Ortega had to save them from a potential early shock.
That was before a double by the inevitable Erling Haaland – who had already scored five goals against RB Leipzig in midweek – opened up a two goal first half lead for City in the 32nd and 35th minutes.
The opening came courtesy of a through ball from Julian Alvarez and the second was a fast cross delivered from the left wing by Phil Foden.
Both times Haaland leveraged his pace and physicality to reach the ball first and stab it home each time.
And his goalmouth predatory instincts saw him complete his sixth City hat trick – all at the Etihad – with a tap in just before the hour mark after Foden’s shot came back off the back post.
It was his 42nd goal in 37 matches – a total likely to increase as Premier League records come within his reach.
Kevin De Bruyne was in majestic form, his right wing square pass opened up the chance for Julian Alvarez to make it 4-0 from 4 yards out in the 62nd minute.
Foden’s cross was pushed away by Bailey Peacock-Farrell but Cole Palmer – a second half substitute – was on hand to stroke in the rebound from 6 yards out after 68 minutes for his first goal of the season.
And De Bruyne’s delicious through ball from his own half released Alvarez for a run on goal where he left a Burnley defender on his backside as he cut inside from the right and fired in City’s 6th in the 73rd minute – his 12th goal of the season.