Erling Haaland made it 42 goals for the season with another hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed Burnley 6-0 to book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals.
The emphatic scoreline spoilt Clarets boss Vincent Kompany’s return to the Etihad Stadium after the Championship side made a defensively solid start to the game.
But they were undone by two goals in three minutes by the in-form Haaland, four days after he netted five against RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
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The Norwegian ran onto Julian Alvarez’s through-ball to poke the ball past the on-rushing goalkeeper for the opener.
And he made it 41 goals in just 37 games when he converted Phil Foden’s cross from close range.
Kompany brought on Jack Cork and Ashley Barnes at the break but they did not carve out enough chances to get back into the game and threaten an upset.
And they fell further behind when a lovely passing move led to Foden’s shot hitting the post and Haaland converting the rebound first-time for his hat-trick.
Three minutes later, Pep Guardiola’s side made it four when Kevin De Bruyne found Alvarez to score from close range.
Substitute Cole Palmer grabbed the fifth with a volley from close range after Foden’s cross was parried into his path.
And World Cup winner Alvarez sealed the rout with his second with a ferocious finish from inside the box after being fed by De Bruyne.
TALKING POINT
Haaland on another hot streak.
Few players can claim to have had a better goalscoring week in their career than the Norweigan – five goals in a Champions League knockout game and another three today.
And that is after questions were asked in some quarters about his game after scoring two in his previous eight games.
It may have been against Championship opposition but Burnley are top of their division and have only lost four games all season.
The relief for the rest of English football, and City’s next Champions League opponents Bayern Munich, is there is an international break coming up which opposition defenders will hope will affect his rhythm.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Erling Haaland (Manchester City): The goal-machine will grab all the headlines again with another clinical performance. It was a close game for 30 minutes but he took the sting out of the Clarets with those two goals in three minutes on his way to a hat-trick.
PLAYER RATINGS
MAN CITY: Ortega 6, Walker 7, Dias 6, Laporte 7, Lewis 6, Rodri 7, De Bruyne 8, Mahrez 6, Alvarez 9, Foden 9, Haaland 10. Subs: Akanji 6, Palmer 7, Gomez 5, Phillips 5, Grealish n/a.
BURNLEY: Peacock-Farrell 4, Roberts 6, Al-Dakhil 5, Beyer 5, Maatsen 6, Cullen 5, Gudmundsson 4, Tella 5, Zaroury 6, Vitinho 5, Foster 5. Subs: Obafemi 5, Taylor 5, Bastien 5.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
32′ – GOAL FOR CITY! The ball is threaded through by Alvarez to Haaland who beats the keeper in a race to the ball.
35′ – GOAL FOR CITY! Its Haaland again from close range from Foden’s low pass.
59′ – GOAL FOR CITY! Its another Haaland hat-trick! Mahrez’s pass found Foden whose shot hit the post and the striker tucks in the rebound with a first-time effort.
62′ GOAL FOR CITY! Mahrez to De Bruyne who squares it to Alvarez to score from close range.
69′ – GOAL FOR CITY! Palmer has been on for 6 minutes and scores with a volley in the box after a shot is parried into his path.
73′ – GOAL FOR CITY! Alvarez holds off a challenge from De Bruyne’s pass to hammer the ball into the roof of the net.
KEY STAT
Manchester City have reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in six of their seven seasons under Pep Guardiola. They are now the third team to reach the last four of the competition in five consecutive seasons since the creation of the Football League, after Manchester United (1961-62 to 1965-66) and Arsenal (2000-01 to 2004-05).
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