Erling Haaland gets Vincent Kompany gesture after Man City masterclass vs Burnley

How long before Erling Haaland gets a statue outside the Etihad?

Manchester City welcomed back one of their greatest-ever players as Vincent Kompany brought his hugely impressive Burnley side for an FA Cup quarter-final. The former centre-back had one of the best views in the house to watch one of the greatest players world football has seen take the game away from the Championship side and continue an absurdly good season.

Parts of Greater Manchester were hit with eight inches of snow last week and the clocks are yet to go forward, but Erling Haaland has scored 42 goals. Three here added to his penalty at Palace last Saturday and his five against Leipzig on Tuesday to end a relatively lean spell in front of goal with a bonanza.

Also read: Man City player ratings vs Burnley

Haaland's ambition to conquer all of Europe means he is unlikely to stick around at the Etihad for as long as the three legends that are portrayed in galvanised steel outside the East Stand, although he has shown that he can achieve a hell of a lot in no time at all. The No.9 already has more goals than any City player has ever scored in a single campaign and he could have 18 games to improve that.

Here, he took less than three minutes to take the game away from a Burnley side that had caused City real problems in the opening half-hour. Just as Kompany and his team were beginning to flex their muscles, they were 2-0 down.

Guardiola spoke in the programme notes of how City have missed Kompany, and they have. There is a reason there is a statue of him outside the stadium, and his departure in 2019 cost the Blues an exceptional centre-back and an even better captain.

Part of the reason they have been able to move on, though, is because Ruben