Manchester City defeated Sheffield United 3-0 to advance easily to the final with Riyad Mahrez scoring the first FA Cup semi-final hat-trick since 1958.
Late in the first half, the Algerian international gave Pep Guardiola’s treble-chasing team a lead with a penalty before scoring twice more in the second half.
High-flying champions The imposing City, who made light of their demanding schedule in the week they also advanced to the Champions League semi-finals with a dominant display, were unconquerable, and United was unable to disturb them.
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They now enter Wednesday’s vital top-of-the-table Premier League match against league leaders Arsenal with a great deal of confidence and momentum after winning their 11th game in a row.
The Blades’ outstanding performance in the competition came to an anticlimactic finish with the setback, but they should soon achieve their main objective of being promoted back to the first flight.
The prolific Erling Haaland, who has scored 48 goals this season, was kept in attack despite Guardiola’s six alterations.
Surprisingly, though, Mahrez, one of the newcomers, was the player who controlled the match rather than the Norwegian.
Tommy Doyle and James McAtee, the two City loanees who were absent from United, were missed as they tried to establish themselves in the game.
However, if the Blades had seized their lone significant opportunity of the game in the second minute, the result might have been different.
When the ball dropped to Iliman Ndiaye after a corner, he could have scored, but he shot directly at Stefan Ortega.
The Blades would later regret the mistake as they saw very little more of the ball.
To their credit, they played solid defense and at first gave City few clear-cut opportunities, but it appeared like Guardiola’s team would eventually succeed.
When Haaland rifled in a shot from 35 yards, but the whistle had already been blown for a foul, he handed United a warning.
Prior to John Fleck’s perilously close deflection of a Bernardo Silva cross, Mahrez curled a shot wide, Julian Alvarez forced a superb save from Wes Foderingham, and Mahrez finished with a curled shot wide.
Jack Robinson’s long-range shot from United presented another threat, but Ortega remained unconcerned.
After Silva was hauled down in the area by Daniel Jebbison, City took the lead just before halftime.
After Haaland missed the penalty kick against Bayern Munich in the middle of the week, Mahrez comfortably sent Foderingham the wrong way.
In a similar vein, United struggled to acquire any significant possession in the second half.
As City gradually tightened the screws, they doubled their advantage just after the hour when Mahrez won the ball in midfield and was let to advance unimpeded.
As he approached the box, he coolly slotted past Foderingham without any indication of a challenge.
Five minutes later, he finished his triple. Once more, the United defense couldn’t stop the ball from being clipped in from the left by Jack Grealish.
Mahrez responded to it with a precise goal-bound shot, and although putting a touch on it, Foderingham was powerless to stop it.
Then, Guardiola started to concentrate on Arsenal and made a number of adjustments. City successfully completed the game and will now visit the national stadium in June to take on Brighton or Manchester United, two rivals.