Manchester City looked impeckable once again as they booked a FA Cup final at Wembley with a clean 3-0 victory over Championship side Sheffield United.
FULL-TIME | FA CUP FINALISTS! 👊
🔵 3-0 ⚔️ #ManCity pic.twitter.com/qcgzXna92F
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 22, 2023
Riyad Mahrez was for once the star of the show as the Algerian scored all of City’s goal for his first hat-trick for the club in this competition. It was also the first hat-trick being scored at this stage of the competition since 1958.
The first half was pretty evenly contested with the Blades even having a real shot at leading the game only for goalkeeper Stefan Ortega to deny them.
Sheffield will be ruing Daniel Jebbison clumsy foul on Bernando Silva, which gave Pep Guardiola’s team a penalty, that was swiftly materialized into a 1-0 lead before the interval.
The Citizens never looked back and established full dominance in the second half as goals flooded in the 61st and 66th minute for Mahrez to complete his hat-trick and put the game beyond the wildest ambitions the Blades might have had.
The ease with which City overcame Sheffield gave manager Guardiola the luxury to rest key players such as Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundugan and Bernando Silva before crunch title deciding showdown with League leaders Arsenal on Wednesday.
City await their opponent in the FA Cup final from the game Brighton-Manchester United, which will be played on Sunday.