Haaland, who baggeda Premier League season-record 36goals and a total of 52 in all competi-tions for treble winners City last sea-son, slotted his side in front after fourminutes. A stunning finish by theNorwegian in the 36th put City incruise control with the only blot ontheir copybook being an injury toKevin de Bruyne that forced him off inthe first half. Rodri drove home City'sthird from close range after 75 minutesto make it a chastening return to the topflight for a Burnley side managed byformer City captain Vincent Kompany.To complete the home side's miserythey had substitute Anass Zaroury sentoff in stoppage time for an ugly tackleon Kyle Walker, the decision beingupgraded from a yellow card by refer-ee Craig Pawson after a VAR check. Ifanyone thought 23-year-old Haalandmight struggle to match the record-smashing exploits of his first season inEngland, or whether it might take hima while to get up to speed, they weregiven an immediate answer. He lookedrazor sharp from the opening whistleas City, who had no new faces in theirstarting lineup, sent out an early warning to any side trying to prevent them from winning a fourth succes- sive English title. "We started well. We found a goal, we struggled a bit after. We gave away balls, our pass created problems but after a while we played much, much better," Guardiola said. Haaland's opening goal was a typical poacher's effort, pouncing to jab a shot past goalkeeper James Trafford after Rodri headed a De Bruyne cross back into the area. Burnley recov- ered from that early setback quite well and almost punished City for some sloppiness when Lyle Foster curled a shot past the far post. De Bruyne did not last much longer though, limping off to be replaced by new signing Mateo Kovacic after 23 minutes. But
that did not disrupt City's rhythm and they doubled their lead when a patient build-up ended with Julian Alvarez teeing up Haaland who dispatched a clinical curling effort with his left foot into the net via the far post. The second half was a lessen in game manage- ment by City who were content to run the legs out of Burnley. They added a third when Rodri, scorer of the goal in the Champions League final exactly two months ago that sealed City's treble, thumped home
after Burnley failed to deal with a set-piece played into their penalty area. Haaland was substituted late on while City also offered a late cameo to new defen- sive signing Josko Gvardiol. Burnley's big night did not go to plan on or off the field with the club apolo- gising for an object being thrown at City's Rico Lewis in the first half. Kompany, who won two of his four City titles under Guardiola, knows his team must learn quickly. "You can't feel good with a defeat, but I've seen enough to know we have made progress since the last time we played them," he said, referring to a 6-0 FA Cup quarter-final loss last term. "This is going to be the worst we play this season, this team is only going to get stronger."
