On Saturday, Erling Haaland smashed through the 40-goal barrier in his first season at Manchester City

 

On Saturday, Erling Haaland smashed through the 40-goal barrier in his first season at Manchester City, scoring a hat-trick in their 6-0 FA Cup quarterfinal rout of Burnley. Following his five-goal salvo against RB Leipzig in midweek, the Norwegian forward proved insatiable again, scoring two trademark goals in the 32nd and 35th minutes before completing his sixth hat-trick of the season just before the hour mark. This takes his total tally to an astonishing 42 goals for City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in June.

Julian Alvarez added two more goals and substitute Cole Palmer also scored as City ran riot to make it 13 goals in a week to cruise into the semifinals. Former City hero Vincent Kompany, who is now managing Burnley, saw his side face a chastening day. Despite coping well with City for the opening half-hour and creating some decent chances, Burnley were outclassed once Haaland broke the deadlock.

Haaland is just the sixth player in the Premier League era to score at least 40 goals in all competitions in a season, joining the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo, Andy Cole, and Harry Kane. With City still in three competitions, he is likely to surpass 50 goals soon.

Despite the hype surrounding his extraordinary statistics, Haaland remained modest and said, "Every goal means a lot to me, and every goal for the team means a lot."

The three other FA Cup sixth-round ties took place on Sunday, with Manchester United at home to Fulham, Sheffield United hosting Blackburn Rovers, and Brighton and Hove Albion welcoming fourth-tier survivors Grimsby Town.