Riyad Mahrez’s hat-trick at Wembley brought an end to Manchester City’s run of three consecutive FA Cup semi-final defeats.
Riyad Mahrez scored three goals at Wembley to help Manchester City secure a 3-0 victory over Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi-final. Despite his impressive performance, Mahrez was more concerned with ending City’s three-year run of defeats in the semi-finals of the competition, as well as their record of losing four out of five matches at Wembley. This was as many losses as they had suffered in their first 18 matches at the stadium since it reopened in 2007.
At half-time, Manchester City was only leading by one goal, with Mahrez scoring it. However, in the second half, Mahrez took over the game and scored two more goals to seal the win and knock Sheffield United out of the competition.
Mahrez banish City’s semi-final demons
Mahrez’s hat-trick was historic as he became the first player ever to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. The last time this feat was achieved was by Alex Dawson of Manchester United against Fulham in 1958.
“It’s very good [to score a hat-trick] but the most important thing, after two or three years in a row where we always came here in the semi-final, we always lost and we didn’t really play good. But Today, we wanted to make sure we put in a good performance and got to the final,” he told ITV Sport.
“It means a lot. Every season we start, with the team we have got and the coach we have got, we really want to go as far as we can in every competition.
“Getting into the final of the FA Cup is amazing in this country. Now we need to concentrate on the league and the next game against Arsenal.“
Manchester City’s focus now shifts to their midweek Premier League clash against Arsenal, as they aim to reduce the gap between them and the league leaders to two points with the advantage of having two games in hand.
