Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez made history on Saturday in scoring the first FA Cup semi-final hat-trick since 1958 and the first ever at Wembley.
City ran out comfortable 3-0 winners against Sheffield United to book their place in the June final - a first since 2019 after being knocked out at the semi-final stage in all of the last three seasons. Pep Guardiola made a number of changes from the side that progressed past Bayern Munich in the Champions League midweek, most notably seeing Riyad Mahrez return.
The Algerian duly stepped up to provide the goals for dominant Blues display, first slotting home a penalty minutes before the break and then adding two goals in five second-half minutes. A wonderful solo run through the heart of the Blades defence saw Mahrez make it two, with the third a cultured finish from Jack Grealish's pass.
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It was Mahrez's second hat-trick in City colours, but more importantly, a first at this stage of the FA Cup for 65 years. The last player to do so was Alex Dawson of Manchester United in a 5-3 win over Fulham, a game played at Arsenal's Highbury stadium.
Speaking after the result, Mahrez admitted his delight at helping City progress past the semi-finals for the first time in four years.
"The most important thing is that after three years in a row where we came here in the semi-final, we always lost and didn't really play good, and today we all really wanted to make sure that we put in a good performance and go to the final," Mahrez told ITV.
"I think it is a collective performance, it was very good. We took the game really seriously. I think we had a good game and we are happy to go to the final of the FA Cup. It means a lot, every season that we start with the team we have and the coach and the staff we have, we want to go as far as we can in every competition."
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