Riyad Mahrez scored the first FA Cup semi-final hat-trick for 65 years as Manchester City eased past Sheffield United with a 3-0 victory to book their place in the final.
Pep Guardiola has regularly cut a frustrated figure when fielding questions on a potential treble as his side continue to fight on three fronts, but that talk is only going to intensify as City ensured they will be returning to Wembley at the start of June to face either Brighton or Manchester United
After a relatively sluggish start from the heavy favourites, City took the lead before the break through a penalty from Mahrez, and he added two more in the second-half to ensure there was to be no slip-up against the Championship side who are on the verge of securing automatic promotion back to the Premier League.
City’s attention now turns back to the Premier League, when Arsenal travel to the Etihad on Wednesday night. Victory for Guardiola’s side and the Gunners’ title race may well be run.
The City boss made six changes from the side that faced Bayern Munich in midweek, with Julian Alvarez and Mahrez among those to come in, though Sheffield United, without the ineligible Tommy Doyle and Jason McAtee against their parent club, would have had their main focus on the fact Erling Haaland started at Wembley.
He barely had a kick in the opening stages, with the Blades making an impressive start to the last-four clash. They could, and probably should, have taken the lead inside the first couple of minutes, as the ball fell to Iliman Ndiaye from a corner but he was denied by Stefan Ortega from six-yards out.
City gradually took control of the match, though they didn’t create much in the way of clear-cut chances for all their possession. They were gifted the opportunity to take the lead just before the break, as Daniel Jebbison took a rash swing at Bernardo Silva in the box and gave away a needless penalty.
Haaland was demoted from penalty-taking duties after his miss in Munich, as Mahrez stepped up and whipped the spot-kick into the bottom corner to give City the advantage heading into half-time.
It was a lead they never looked like giving up, with a number of shots blocked by the Blades defence before what felt like an inevitable second City goal came on the hour mark. Mahrez won the ball back on the halfway line and ran at the back-line, straight through the middle and into the box before sliding the finish past Foderingham.
And two became three, both for City and Mahrez, just a few minutes later. Jack Grealish drove into the box, squared the ball for his-team and the first-time finish was swept into the back of the net, despite Foderingham getting plenty on it.
Haaland and Grealish were immediately withdrawn as Guardiola turned his thoughts to Arsenal, with it abundantly clear which of the title rivals is carrying all the momentum heading into a decisive few weeks domestically and in Europe.
