'Excellent to watch, but...': Match of the Day pundit makes Burnley claim following Man City defeat

The Clarets gave as good as they got on their return to the top flight but found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat at Turf Moor on Friday night.

Erling Haaland scored City’s first two goals with two clinical finishes before Rodri finished off the scoring in the second-half.

Despite the comfortable nature of the scoreline, Vincent Kompany’s side caused the reigning champions plenty of problems, especially in the first-half where they were more than a match for the treble winners.

Analysing the game on Match of the Day, Richards – a former Man City player – felt his old club were well worthy of the three points.

“The game was brilliant,” he said.

“I watched a lot of Burnley in the Championship. Obviously they were up against Man City so it was always going to be difficult.

“In the box they sort of run out of ideas a little bit, they were on the front foot…but Man City have got Haaland. They gave him chances.

“Rodri, it was one of the best midfield performances I’ve seen in a Man City shirt.

“The whole game was excellent to watch but there was a gulf in class.”

The BBC pundits also discussed the bizarre exchange between City boss Pep Guardiola and his star striker Haaland at half-time.

As they marched off the pitch towards the tunnel, Guardiola was seen berating his player despite having scored two first-half goals.

Having his say on the spat, Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer said: “I’m old school. I love how driven and how much Pep wants perfection, but if he doesn’t want the cameras to see it then wait until you’re in the dressing room where you can say what you want to him.

“I wouldn’t have liked that. I would have said two words to him and one of them would have been “off”.

“You can say what you want in the dressing room, give me the biggest telling off if you want, but not in front of the crowd like that.”