Erling Haaland lays down the goalscoring gauntlet for just one player: himself in future seasons

independent.co.uk:

If it had the air of a unique occasion for an icon of Manchester City’s past, it was just business as usual their current idol.

Vincent Kompany made his first competitive return to the Etihad Stadium since his seminal, sensational goal against Leicester in 2019 and his sudden exit, to the ground with his statue outside and to the club he helped turn into relentless winners.And then, with precious little romance and typical ruthlessness, Erling Haaland condemned City’s greatest captain to his heaviest defeat as Burnley manager.

For the Clarets, who lost 5-0 at the Etihad four times under Sean Dyche, it was a still heavier beating.Kompany’s last act as a City player, the day before he announced his departure, was to lift the FA Cup.

With Pep Guardiola’s side in the semi-finals for the fifth time in six seasons, Ilkay Gundogan may join him in the select group of their FA Cup-winning skippers.Haaland had broken a 94-year-old record for most goals in a season for City without finding the net in the FA Cup – in mitigation, he had only previously played once in the competition – but he duly scored his sixth hat-trick of the campaign and second in four days.With 42 goals before the end of March, the Norwegian seems well on the way to setting the kind of marker only one player could rival in the future: himself in subsequent seasons.He has eight goals in his last two games alone; that Leipzig, title contenders in the Bundesliga, conceded five to him suggests Burnley did well in comparison.