London: The goals just keep flowing for Erling Haaland and Manchester City, no matter the competition.
Haaland bagged another hat trick to make it eight goals in his last two games as City eased into the FA Cup semifinals with a 6-0 home win over Championship side Burnley on Saturday. That came on the heels of a 7-0 win over Leipzig on Tuesday in the Champions League — when Haaland netted five — showing that City may be hitting another gear as it enters the decisive part of the season.
It was City’s sixth straight win in all competitions, having scored 23 goals in that stretch.
“We are in that part of the season where we should be at our best,” said Haaland, whose extraordinary tally is now at 42 goals in all competitions. “Now is when things get decided.”
City is still in the hunt for three trophies, but while Pep Guardiola’s team are the big favorites in the FA Cup they may need to maintain this kind of form to win the other two. They face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals next month, and could go into the international break eight points behind Arsenal in the Premier League if the Gunners beat Crystal Palace at home on Sunday.
10 trophies
The buildup to Burnley’s visit to the Etihad had all been about its manager Vincent Kompany, the former City captain who already has a statue outside the stadium after winning 10 major trophies with the club.
Haaland may get his own statue before his playing career is even over if he keeps scoring at this rate.
The prolific Norwegian scored his first two goals in a three-minute span shortly after the half-hour mark and completed his hat trick by slotting in a rebound in the 59th.
World Cup winner Julian Alvarez also scored twice while the 20-year-old Cole Palmer got on the scoresheet as Burnley’s resistance collapsed over the last 30 minutes.
