Man City 6-0 Burnley: Erling Haaland scores final hat-trick on Vincent Kompany’s miserable return

The prolific Norwegian continued his five-goal run against RB Leipzig on Tuesday with his sixth hat-trick of the season as City ruthlessly put the Clarets to the sword at the Etihad Stadium.

World Cup winner Julian Alvarez celebrated his new contract with a brace and 20-year-old Cole Palmer was also put on the scoresheet as former City captain Kompany suffered a comeback miserable on his old ground.

Much of the pre-match preparation was for Kompany, who won 10 major trophies during a distinguished playing career with City and has a statue outside the stadium.

Naturally, he was very well received by the home fans, but his former team showed him no subtlety and, at the final whistle, the headlines were once again on Haaland.

The 22-year-old has now scored a remarkable 42 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions this season.

Burnley, the runaway Championship leaders, started with confidence and Stefan Ortega was nearly caught off guard as he rushed in a pass and offered the ball to Ian Maatsen.

Rico Lewis ran to avoid danger and Ortega made amends moments later when he fended off a long-range effort from Nathan Tella.

Yet, as uneasy as City sometimes looked in their own half, they were confident and skilful at the other end.

Burnley escaped when Haaland misdirected a header from a Phil Foden cross and it took a good tackle from Jordan Beyer to stop Alvarez from firing.

City’s quality was such that they could punish Burnley at any time and a quick brace from Haaland just after the half-hour put the game beyond the Clarets.

Haaland was fed to the edge of the box by Alvarez and, although Bailey Peacock-Farrell rushed forward, he instinctively pushed the ball past the keeper.

It was a smart finish, but his next few moments later was even sweeter.

This time Foden was the provider after a charge down the left. His low ball into the area was inviting for Haaland and he lifted it cleanly over Peacock-Farrell.

Burnley tried to respond and Maatsen forced a good save from Ortega just before the interval, but City and Haaland were in no mood to relent.

Peacock-Farrell blocked a volley from Riyad Mahrez and then fended off a strike from Haaland, but he couldn’t stem the tide for long.

Haaland completed his hat-trick just before the hour mark where, as usual, he was in the right place at the right time to pounce on a rebound after Foden hit the post.

He gave Peacock-Farrell no chance as he raced home and the score quickly became 4-0 as Kevin De Bruyne burst into the area and squared in for Alvarez come home.

As it was midweek, Haaland was knocked out in the 63rd minute. That means his contribution for the week totaled eight goals in just 126 minutes of action.

There was still no respite for Burnley as Foden’s cross was pushed into Palmer’s path and the substitute surrendered.

The sixth came shortly after as Alvarez ran on a ball through De Bruyne and turned inside Ameen Al-Dakhil to head home.

City have come through the final minutes and can now look forward to another trip to Wembley next month.