Riyad Mahrez was the man of the moment after scoring a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 3-0 bashing of Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley on Saturday.
The Citizens came into the game following a 4-1 quarter-final aggregate victory over Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League to set up another semi-final date with Real Madrid.
City boss Pep Guardiola made a couple of changes with Mahrez making the starting eleven. The Algerian winger open proceedings two minutes to the halftime break from the penalty spot after Daniel Jebbison was guilty of fouling Bernardo Silva in the box.
More misery was compounded on Sheffield as Mahrez doubled City’s lead on the hour mark, retrieving the ball in midfield and running into the box unchallenged before coolly slotting the ball past goalkeeper Wes Foderingham.
The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winner put the final nail in the coffin, latching on to Jack Grealish’s lofted pass and drilled the ball in.
Mahrez became the first player ever to score an FA Cup semi-final hat-trick at Wembley. It was also the first semi-final hat-trick in the cup competition in 65 years.
3 – Riyad Mahrez has scored the first ever FA Cup semi-final hat-trick at Wembley Stadium, and first in the semi-final of the competition overall since Alex Dawson in 1958 (Man Utd against Fulham). Historic. #MCISHU pic.twitter.com/L7mWjRiXx5
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 22, 2023
The 23-year-old has now scored 15 goals in all competitions, five of them coming in the FA Cup where City will get to face either cross-town rivals Manchester United or Brighton & Hove Albion pending the result of the other semi-final to be played at Wembley on Sunday.
