Riyad Mahrez fired Manchester City into the FA Cup final as the Algerian’s hat-trick sealed a 3-0 win against Sheffield United at Wembley on Saturday.
Mahrez’s superb display dispatched the Championship underdogs, ensuring City ended their run of three successive FA Cup semi-final defeats.
The 32-year-old shattered United’s resistance with a penalty late in the first half and completed his treble with two clinical finishes after the interval.
City’s opponents in the Wembley final on June 3 will be the winners of Sunday’s semi-final between Manchester United and Brighton.
They have reached the final without conceding a single goal in this season’s tournament.
City have won 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions and remain on course to win a memorable treble as they chase Arsenal in the Premier League and face a Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.
The English champions received a welcome boost on Friday when Premier League leaders Arsenal were held to a 3-3 draw by bottom-of-the-table Southampton.
That result left second-placed City five points behind Arsenal but with two games in hand ahead of their crucial clash against the Gunners in Manchester on Wednesday.
With the Arsenal match in mind, Guardiola made six changes from the side that drew at Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Wednesday.
