Haaland fires hat-trick as Manchester City demolish Kompany’s Burnley 6-0

Pep Guardiola threw bouquets at Vincent Kompany, then ordered his Manchester City team to eviscerate his former captain’s, which it did via Erling Haaland’s sixth hat-trick of the season (and second of the week) as Burnley were downed and a place secured in Sunday’s semi-final draw.

City’s manager had lauded Kompany for his drilling of a side that are near dead-certs for promotion to the Premier League, but a team sheet that showed Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Rodri and Haaland showed a cold-eyed focus on collecting the second FA Cup of his reign.

The visiting manager was rightly given a hero’s reception that featured high-fives from City staff, a warm hug with Guardiola, and prolonged applause from all in the stadium. Then, the serious stuff began.

Kompany’s greeting was followed with the familiar tale of City establishing tempo and dominance though there was scant sight of Bailey Peacock-Farrell’s goal. A Rodri shot was deflected clear as the Championship leaders scampered about harassing their hosts from Haaland, at the tip, to Stefan Ortega, in goal.

When attacking Rico Lewis, City’s left-back, padded into midfield, and Aymeric Laporte fanned wide from the centre and Rúben Dias the other way, Guardiola’s team operated a two-man defence. They were caught out when an Ortega pass aimed for Lewis was mis-hit, Vitinho collected, fed Lyle Foster, and the striker raced in: Lewis, recovering, saved his keeper from embarrassment. A little later, Nathan Tella was poised to finish and this time City required Dias’s sliding tackle to rescue them.

Burnley’s idea was similar to their hosts: squeeze the space and disrupt and it worked – for a while. When Julián Álvarez’s effort went for a corner this signalled City moving through