Pep Guardiola heaped praise on his Burnley counterpart Vincent Kompany following Manchester City’s 3-1 Premier League victory on Wednesday, suggesting the latter will one day be in charge at the Etihad Stadium.
Two goals by birthday boy Julian Alvarez and a Rodri strike gave City a comfortable win as they welcomed Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones back into the starting line-up, and had striker Erling Haaland on the pitch in the second half after missing the last 10 games with injury.
There was a tribute to Burnley manager Kompany before the match in recognition of the former City defender’s 11-year stay at the club during which he made 360 appearances.
“Vinny sooner or later will finish here,” Guardiola told reporters. “I have the feeling he will finish here. He is already a big manager, what he did last season with Burnley. You can see the ideas they have, the way they try to defend. I like what he does.”
City were never troubled despite a late consolation goal for Burnley’s Ameen Al Dakhil.
“Today the game was not close,” Guardiola said. “There are games with this score that feel closer, this was not. We had players who have less control than usual, we had more runners, more speed.
“Burnley is not an easy team to face. Today, we won because of the quality of players we have, not because we were better at all aspects.”
Kompany took positives from his team’s performance. “We have to look at the easy goals we conceded but also the chances we created,” he said.
La Liga: Roque’s first for Barca
Barcelona: Barcelona’s 18-year-old Brazilian striker Vitor Roque came off the bench and scored with a header to snatch a 1-0 win against visitors Osasuna in La Liga on Wednesday.
In their first game since manager Xavi Hernandez announced that he would be leaving at the end of the season, Barca once again struggled up-front but managed to find the winner in the 63rd minute when Roque netted from a Joao Cancelo cross one minute after coming on.
Barca moved to fourth in the standings with 47 points, same as Atletico Madrid who have a better goal difference, eight behind leaders Girona and seven adrift of Real Madrid. It was Roque’s first goal for the club since arriving from Brazil earlier this month.
Depay the saviour
Memphis Depay’s last-gasp goal salvaged a 2-1 home win for Atletico against Rayo Vallecano which lifted Diego Simeone’s side back to third in the standings.
Reuters