Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was caught in a heated exchange with Erling Haaland at half-time, despite the star striker netting twice before the break.

The Premier League defending champions eventually ran out 3-0 victors against newly-promoted Burnley on Friday night thanks to Haaland's double, ahead of a third from Rodri late on.

But even with his team having a two-goal advantage at the interval, courtesy of the Norwegian, Guardiola did not hold back delivering a solid message to the young forward.

Guardiola explained after the game that the discussion centered on Haaland's desire to run onto passes rather than receive balls to feet.

'He wanted the ball in behind to him and that ball didn't have to be behind,' he said. 'Sometimes you have to be patient to find the right moment. He was not frustrated, I am not frustrated. In football, it happens. Don't be dramatic.'

Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Izzy Christiansen agreed that a byproduct of the City boss' genius is his unparalleled level of intensity but wondered if the display needn't have been so public.

'There will be some people who love the intensity of that,' Neville said on Sky after the incident. 'The relentlessness of it, showing why he's a genius. There will be others asking why he's doing it in a public forum with the cameras on.

'I've played with one of the most intense managers in the history of the game but he would have always done it in the dressing room.'

Christiansen added: 'He's a perfectionist and knows what he wants from his players. He wasn't happy with some of his movement and we've seen him do this before to other players. He's looking for a reaction and a response, he's firing him up and showing what he wants.'

Haaland himself was not happy as the whistle blew to signal half-time, seemingly annoyed with team-mate Bernardo Silva for not passing him the ball.

Guardiola interrupted his enforced on-pitch lesson to walk over and shove the Sky camera that had by that point focused all its attention on the pair.

Speaking at half-time on Sky Sports, Neville said the incident would divide opinion.

He said: 'There'll be some people who'll love the intensity of that and say that that's why he's the best manager on the planet. Then there'll be others who will say that you shouldn't do that in a public forum, grabbing his arm in front of the cameras.

'I played for one of the most intense managers in the history of the game - but he'd never have done that on the pitch in such a way.'