Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has claimed that Manchester City's 3-0 victory over Sheffield United proved why FA Cup semi-finals should not be played at Wembley Stadium.
Since 2008, both ties in the last four of the competition have been played at the iconic stadium in London. The winner teams then travel back to Wembley Way a month later to contest the final.
On Saturday, City secured their place in the FA Cup final on Saturday, June 3 thanks to a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick under the arch. However, much of the talk before and after the game centred around how many empty seats were spotted in both sections of the stadium amid the cost of travel from the north, ticket prices and accommodation on the weekend of the London Marathon.
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Wembley announced that the official attendance for the fixture was 69,603. This is some way short of the national stadium's capacity of 90,000.
Taking to Instagram on Sunday morning, Scholes vented his frustration at the decision to play semi-finals in London. He posted: "If there was ever an advert to get semi-finals back at Villa Park."
Before Wembley reopened, FA Cup semi-finals were played at neutral venues which were often close to the competing clubs. Grounds which have been selected before include; Aston Villa's Villa Park, Manchester United's Old Trafford and Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough.
While it took until 2008 to play the first semi-final at Wembley, the decision was made in 2003. Discussing the decision at the time, FA Spokesman Nick Barron said: "There will be traditionalists upset by the idea of the semi-finals being at Wembley.
"So will some fans of clubs who would have to travel a long way to London and we appreciate that it's not necessarily an ideal situation. However, it's a financial necessity in order to pay for the new stadium.
"And the up side is that not only will more fans be able to watch the games, but they will be doing so in the best stadium in the world."
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