Julian Alvarez, on what was his 24th birthday, continued his excellent form this season by claiming a first-half brace to take his overall tally of goals for the season to 15, with Rodrigo adding a third straight after the break before Burnley claimed a late consolation.
Alvarez’s second goal came about from a brilliantly worked set-piece routine which saw a superb low Kevin De Bruyne free-kick catch the Burnley rearguard napping before the Argentine striker slammed home a clinical finish.
Immediately after the goal the City boss made a point of turning to salute assistant coach Carlos Vicens who helps oversee City’s set-piece routines along with analyst Jack Wilson
The goal came hard on the heels of last Friday’s FA Cup fourth winner at Tottenham which followed from another set-piece, this time via a corner.
And addressing the media in his post-match press conference, the boss made a point of highlighting the important contribution of Vicens and Wilson to City’s attacking armoury.
“Today in modern football, set-pieces are really important,” the City manager said.
“We won in the FA Cup at Spurs with a corner and today we prepared with Carlos and Jack.
“I’m not involved with anything in set-pieces because I’m not good... or the other ones are better. I don’t have time I would say, and we are preparing things in the corners like every team does.
“Especially we prepared this free-kick and it worked.
“Kevin had to make a perfect pass, and Julian had to make the movement and it was a good finish from Alvarez.
“Someone had to come with the idea, and we are going to do this so all credit to Carlos and Jack.”
On a night full of positives aplenty there was another huge boost for the defending champions when Erling Haaland came on off the bench midway through the second half to make what his first appearance in almost two months after recovering from a foot injury.
The boss made plain his delight at seeing the Norwegian talisman back in the thick of things and said his return to the fold would only help make City an even better team.
And he said there was also no doubt that Haaland and Alvarez could dovetail together to great effect.
“If today it was 7-0 at half-time, maybe Erling would have played more minutes. With 1-0 maybe he would have not played one minute. I don’t know, I didn’t have a plan before the game,” Pep added.
“But I saw him sharp. I had the feeling that he was there.
“He had no clear, clear chances, but three or four that he didn’t control or the pass from Jeremy [Doku] didn’t seek him.
“Whatever he can score, this is the quality of Erling.
“We’ve been really good for the last two months without him, but with him we’re a better team and we’re really pleased that he’s back.
“They [Alvarez and Haaland] can play together. Alvarez is an exceptional player.
“It’s more of a headache for me but they have to compete.”
