Mahrez cuts off the Blades to book City the FA Cup showdown ticket
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 22.04.23. | 20:37
Sheffield United are a charming second-tier side, indeed, but they simply couldn't hurt the colossus. The African winger scores a hat-trick for a 3-0 win
Miracles do happen, but not so often, and not on this Saturday night. At least not in Pep Guardiola's world. And we're living in it.
Manchester City are in the FA Cup finals after beating Sheffield United 3-0 on Saturday night in the semi-final tie played at Wembley Stadium.
The Blades, playing in the EFL Championship, demonstrated many virtues and proved they deserved to be in the last four of one of the world's oldest competitions, but Premier League champions and current runners-up were just too much for the charming minnows.
No way Mahrez just scored a hattrick while Haaland still playing pic.twitter.com/H7TPgpMfWp
— Prosper (@_CFCProsper) April 22, 2023
The man of the match was, by a mile, Riyad Mahrez, who scored a hat-trick to push his team to a showdown against the winner of the other semi-final, between Brighton and Manchester United.
Guardiola opted for a rather unusual squad, with only several regulars in the starting XI, while De Bruyne, Stones, Ederson and some others rested on the bench.
#Mahrez 's hattrick in The FA Cup pic.twitter.com/8smn41UD5g
— youcef Benhadj (@BenhadjYoussouf) April 22, 2023
The Cityzens struggled to both establish domination and find the back of the net in the opening 40 minutes against the die-hard opponents, but fortunes changed as soon as Mahrez scored his first goal of the game, from the spot, two minutes before the half-time interval.
From that moment on, relieved of pressure, the favourites kept calm, and wrapped up the match in some style.
Riyad Mahrez just broke a record of an FA Cup semi final hattrick since 1958
— Pop Lil Frank (vawulence memer😈😈😈) (@PopMemer) April 22, 2023
Where are the man city fans pic.twitter.com/A8t0KuOA1a
The same player, Mahrez, netted two more times, with just five minutes separating his and City's second and third goals of the game to kill any hope for Sheffield United.
FA CUP
Semifinals
Saturday
Man City - Sheffield United 3-0 (1-0)
/Mahrez 43 pen, 61, 66/
Sunday
18:30: (2.55) Brighton (3.35) Man.Utd. (2.75)
***odds are subject to change***
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