A hat-trick from Riyad Mahrez allowed Manchester City to qualify for the FA Cup final by easily dominating (3-0) Sheffield United, D2 club, Saturday at Wembley. The Algerian international opened the scoring from the penalty spot (40th) before doubling the lead by recovering a ball in midfield and going to closely deceive the opposing goalkeeper (61st). Five minutes later, a good time delay from Jack Grealish on the left of the penalty area allowed him to serve behind and low to Mahrez to complete his hat-trick (3-0, 66th) and become the first player to achieve such a performance at this stage of the competition since 1958. The triple scorer confided at the end of the meeting: “It is very pleasant (to score a hat-trick). The most important thing is that it had been three seasons in a row that we had reached the half and lost. Today, we wanted to make sure we made it to the final. I think we had a good game. I don’t know which of my goals is the best, but it’s a good collective performance. (…) Now we will have to focus on the championship and our next match against Arsenal (Wednesday). We have a very good group and a very good team and we must continue our momentum. »