Match Report: Manchester City 6-0 Burnley (FA Cup Quarter-Final)

An Erling Haaland hat-trick helped book Manchester City’s place at Wembley after Burnley were thrashed in the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday evening.

The two Lancashire sides went head to head at the Etihad Stadium, contesting for a place in the semi-final of the illustrious cup competition.

The weekend’s visitors are currently leading the Championship in what has been a fantastic season promising promotion under new manager and Manchester City legend, Vincent Kompany.

The Belgian, who captained the Premier League champions for the best part of a decade, received a wonderful reception from the Etihad faithful, who welcomed their former skipper home.

However, that is as far as the warm welcome went as Pep Guardiola’s side soon came forward with wave after wave of attack on the Burnley rearguard.

To their credit, the visitors displayed some gusto of their own when Nathan Tella forced City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega into a fairly early save.

Not long after, Tella was in again but a last-ditch tackle from the imperious Ruben Dias saved the day, magnificently diverting the ball out for a corner.

Erling Haaland got into a good position for an incoming Phil Foden cross shortly after but the Norwegian misdirected his header, leading to jeers from the travelling Burnley fans.

This proved to be a foolish error by the away support as Haaland did what he does best and fired in the opener after racing one-on-one against Bailey Peacock-Farrell just past the half-hour mark.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors a few minutes after as Haaland struck again, doubling his side’s lead with a calm finish from Foden’s low cross, with the hosts taking a deserved 2-0 lead into the break.

The first real chance of the second half fell to Riyad Mahrez, who fired his effort straight at Peacock-Farrell from close range.

City did get their third on the stroke of 60 minutes and it came as little surprise to everyone as to who scored it – Erling Braut Haaland. The in-form striker reacted quickest to stroke the ball home after Foden’s initial effort rebounded off the post.

Pep Guardiola to @ErlingHaaland: “In four days, you scored EIGHT?!” 😂💙 @EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/zYG6dzExBV

— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) March 18, 2023

This meant that City’s main man has as many as eight goals in just five days following his five-goal display against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in midweek.

City’s faithful were then shocked as a goal went in from someone other than the ominous Norwegian, as Julian Alvarez netted from close range to bag his 11th goal of the season.

Haaland walked off to a standing ovation as he was replaced by Cole Palmer, with Ruben Dias taken off for Manuel Akanji in a double swap from Pep Guardiola. Rico Lewis and Rodri also came on for Sergio Gomez and Kalvin Phillips respectively.

Rain continued to pour but so did the goals as Palmer smashed the ball past Peacock-Farrell for a fifth on what turned into a miserable return to the Etihad Stadium for Vincent Kompany.

Were City done yet? In a word, no. Alvarez scored one of the filthiest goals you are likely to see this season. After twisting past Ameen Al Dakhil, the Argentine rattled the net with a powerful finish.

One final substitution was made as, having picked up a knock late on, Kevin De Bruyne was swapped for Jack Grealish to see out the game.

Manchester City advance to the FA Cup semi-final and will learn of their upcoming opponents in Sunday’s draw.

City next face Liverpool in the Premier League on April 1, when they will return from the first international break of the calendar year.