Burnley suffered an embarrassing evening on the field on Monday but it was events in the skies above a near-empty Etihad that could have caused more lasting damage to Sean Dyche’s club and their reputation.
A plane flew over the stadium before kick-off, trailing a banner which read “White Lives Matter Burnley”.
It was a confrontational, and overtly racist, response to the Black Lives Matter movement which has had such an impact on English football.
Indeed, players and coaching staff from both clubs were still getting to their feet after making the pre-match kneeling gesture that has provided such a powerful symbol of the antiracism campaign when the plane appeared, remaining above the stadium for four minutes.
Burnley hastily issued an apology at half-time, by which time Dyche’s side were already trailing 3-0. The statement added: “This, in no way, represents what Burnley Football Club stands for and we will work fully with the authorities to identify those responsible and issue lifetime bans.”
On the field, the night was just as miserable for Burnley who were swept aside by a rampant City performance, led by two goals each for Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez.
On a night when Manchester City underlined just how much financial muscle they can bring to bear over their rivals, the only player in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI who did not cost a penny opened the scoring. The goal, Foden’s second in as many games since the restart, came after 22 minutes and a rare moment of indiscipline in the Burnley ranks.
From a short corner, Bernardo Silva found Foden unmarked just outside the visitors’ area and, as Josh Brownhill struggled to close him down, the youngster struck a spectacular low shot into the bottom corner of Nick Pope’s goal.
The pre-match prognosis for Burnley had certainly been dire. Dyche was unable to field his five first-team stars who are out of contract at the end of the month, a list headed by Phil Bardsley and Jeff Hendrick who joined three injured regulars on Burnley’s list of unavailable players.
It left Burnley able only to name seven substitutes, two of whom were reserve goalkeepers, with an entire squad that had cost Dyche just over £50million. For City, the chance to name nine substitutes has enabled Guardiola to flex his financial muscle in spectacular fashion. Having made eight changes to the side that easily swept aside Arsenal in Wednesday’s return from lockdown, City’s 20-man squad had cost over £720m.
Patient, probing, poised; City took their time to click through the gears, toying with their opponents until the 17th minute when David Silva picked up the pace and picked out namesake Bernardo who hurried a wild shot off target.
Foden’s opener soon followed, however, and Burnley’s challenge rose exponentially as City, despite having made eight changes from opening night, stroked the ball around with supreme confidence.
It was from down the right flank that City doubled their lead two minutes before the interval when Fernandinho played a sumptuous long ball down the wing for Mahrez to chase.
Foden
Man City have restarted the season in style ????
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) June 22, 2020
The Algerian tortured full-back Charlie Taylor, twisting and turning his marker and switching from left to right foot before drilling an unstoppable finish past Pope from eight yards.
In first half injury-time, the game was as good as over when VAR judged that Ben Mee had tripped Sergio Aguero as the Argentinian, who then went off injured, competed for a short pass from Foden. It presented Mahrez with the chance to claim his second goal in as many minutes and the winger duly obliged beating the England keeper despite Pope guessing the right way.
The rout continued after the restart with David Silva, on the final countdown to the end of his magnificent decade in English football, on the mark after 51 minutes after more good play on the edge of the area from Foden. His pass to Bernardo allowed the Portuguese to square a routine cross for Silva to ghost in and slide the ball past Pope.
Just after the hour, Foden claimed his second of the evening after another magnificent, flowing City attack. Bernardo picked out a nice option with his pass to substitute Gabriel Jesus whose touch allowed the unmarked Foden the chance to beat Pope with a powerful strike.
More on the Premier League
- Black Lives Matter: Premier League players make powerful statement as football returns
- Why players and managers are not wearing coronavirus masks
- A warning for fans: Games could be moved to neutral venues if crowds gather
- From world-beater at Liverpool to a failure at Barça, Newcastle may be Coutinho’s only hope
- Exclusive: Heskey talks Sterling, racism and doing an internship at 42
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2zUWYck
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