Manchester City reached a milestone in the FA Cup after they beat Sheffield United 3-0 at Wembley to reach the Final in style.
It was a comfortable win for Pep Guardiola’s side thanks to Riyad Mahrez’s hat trick as they aim at winning the treble this season.
The encounter could have been all different if Iliman Ndiaye had found the back of the net in the opening minutes of the game.
The ball dropped to Sheffield United’s star man from a corner with just a minute on the clock but his effort was easily cleared by Stefan Ortega.
Despite dominating the game throughout the first half, the Citizens scored their first goal of the match through Mahrez in the 40th minute.
Sheffield United defender brought down Bernardo Silva in the 18-yard box and Riyad Mahrez stepped up to score his first goal of the match.
Sheffield United began the game in a more enthusiastic manner in the second half with more attacking but Riyad Mahrez took the game from them with two goals in quick succession.
Just after the hour mark, Mahrez picked up the ball halfway line and charged at Sheffield United’s defense, and cooly slotted the ball past Wes Fodderingham.
Minutes later, the Algerian international completed his hattrick after he converted a neat cut-back pass from Jack Grealish.
Riyad Mahrez has scored the first ever FA Cup semi-final hat-trick at Wembley Stadium, and the first in the semi-final of the competition overall since Alex Dawson in 1958 (Man Utd against Fulham).
That was not the only record broken in the history of the FA Cup, Manchester City also reached a milestone with the win.
The win against Sheffield United means City have become the first team to reach the FA Cup Final without conceding a single goal, this record was previously held by Everton in the 1965/66 season.
The FA Cup semi-final could have been difficult for City as it came in between Champions League with Bayern Munich and an important Premier League clash with Arsenal. But it was not so as City walked away with a comfortable 3-0 win.
Guardiola was very delighted with the performance his team put up against Sheffield United as he showed it in the post-match interview.
He said; “Excellent performance, we cannot forget three days ago we were in Munich.”
“It took a lot to be here, to try it. We suffered in some actions with long balls. In the end with the quality from Riyad [Mahrez] and the rest of the guys we did it.”
“The quality of Riyad we have seen for many years in this country, also with Leicester. [He is a] huge mentality competitor. Huge ambition to score goals. Scoring at the end of the first half was so important.”
“The question is not to be in this stage of the competition, it is where we came from fighting for many years fighting for the titles. Being there every year means the mentality of the club – not just the players – is there.”
“It is an honour to be in the FA Cup final on 3 June. We will be here. Today we played really good, everyone was serious.”
Who Will Manchester City Play In The Final?
Riyad Mahrez’s hat-trick helped Manchester City keep their Treble dream alive by marching into the FA Cup final.
The Citizens will be back at Wembley for the showpiece on 3 June, but will they be playing Brighton & Hove Albion or Manchester United in six weeks?
Brighton & Hove Albion are going head to head with Manchester United on 23 April 2023 at 15:30 UTC at Wembley Stadium stadium, London city, England.
The FA Cup match will determine who makes it to the final to face in-form Manchester City.
Are we going to witness another Manchester Derby in the FA Cup or will it be the underdogs and favorites final?
We will find out after Sunday’s encounter.
