Man City vs Burnley Result: Final score, goals, highlights and FA Cup match report

If it had the air of a unique occasion for an icon of Manchester City’s past, it was just business as usual for their current idol. Vincent Kompany made his first competitive return to the Etihad Stadium since his sensational goal against Leicester in 2019 and his sudden exit. He returned to the ground with his statue outside and to the club he helped make relentless winners.

And so, 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 an even 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 could 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 back of the net in the FA Cup – to cap it off, he had only played once in the competition previously – but he duly scored his sixth hat-trick of the campaign and number two in four days. With 42 goals before the end of March, the Norwegian seems well on his way to setting the kind of marker only one player can compete with in the future: himself in successive seasons.

He has eight goals in his last two games alone; that Bundesliga title contenders Leipzig conceded five to him suggests Burnley did well in comparison. Kompany’s rival said he would have relished the challenge of facing Haaland. His centre-backs may not have shared those sentiments and were probably relieved when Guardiola substituted the top scorer with half an hour to go.

Burnley have earned a reputation as the City of the Championship as they push for promotion. Guardiola’s influence has rubbed off on Kompany. And yet, if the scoreline suggested that the master outwitted the apprentice, the more prosaic reality might just be that the senior man had Haaland. He transformed the tie with two goals in four minutes. In the second half, when they were lush, it felt irrelevant that City had been unimpressive in the first half hour. Burnley had limited them to one shot and even that was off target.

But goalscorers switch games. Kompany played with the most productive player in City’s history, in Sergio Aguero, but Haaland strikes at a pace that even the Argentine could not manage. His 42 goals have come in just 37 games.

The first, and most important, against Burnley came from an unconventional one-two. City beat the Clarets’ press when Stefan Ortega launched a long ball which Haaland headed down to Julian Alvarez. He spun and raced on to the rebound, slotting his shot past Bailey Peacock-Farrell. As Leipzig can testify, he can turn one into two quickly and a supremely calm finish from Phil Foden’s center followed soon after. His third came from the rebound after Foden hit the post.

Alvarez tapped in the fourth from Kevin de Bruyne’s low cross and, two days after signing a new contract, doubled the tally after a sharp turn left-back Ameen Al-Dakhil at the back. The names indicated Guardiola showed Kompany no mercy. He kept Haaland and De Bruyne while his seven changes included turning to World Cup-winning striker Alvarez, plus generational talent Foden, who was involved in three goals.

The exception to the rule among the goalscorers was substitute Cole Palmer, who was left with a simple finish after goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell parried Foden’s cross. Then it felt like a footnote that the first save of the day came from Ortega, denying Lyle Foster.

It was part of a bright start from the visitors, after a moment to savor for their manager. Kompany, whose shock exit as a player denied City fans a chance to say goodbye, appeared to take the applause from all four stands and hug Guardiola. Then he took up a sideline vigil that may have grown increasingly painful; perhaps unsurprisingly, and the realist in Kompany had spoken of the huge gulf between the top of the Premier League and the Championship summit.

Even as a top team, Burnley tended to struggle against City. The combined score in their last 11 meetings is now 40-1. Dyche’s brand of football rarely proved successful against City. Kompany’s Burnley have a different ethos. They tried to push high, man-marked in midfield and induced mistakes. None of that mattered when Haaland got going. As a player, Kompany could enjoy the times City scored six, especially in a Manchester derby. As a manager, he had less to celebrate.