2023-04-22 19:22:24
The Algerian international, Riyad Mahrez, winger of Manchester City, scored a hat-trick for his team against Sheffield United from the Championship on Saturday, to lead him to the FA Cup final.
Mahrez’s goals came in the 43rd minutes from a penalty kick, 61 and 66.
And City is waiting for the final match scheduled for Wembley Stadium, where the semi-final and final matches will be held a few years ago, on the third of next June, its neighbors Manchester United or South Brighton, who will face each other on Sunday.
City thus maintained its hopes of winning the treble (the domestic league, the cup and the European Champions League), an achievement that only Manchester United achieved in England in 1999.
Manchester City occupies second place in the English Premier League, 5 points behind leaders Arsenal, who played two more matches, noting that the two teams will face each other at the Etihad Stadium in a match expected next Wednesday.
City also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, where it plays against Real Madrid, the Spanish champions.
Spanish City coach Pep Guardiola made six substitutions to the squad that competed in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the European Champions League against Bayern Munich (1-1) on Wednesday, the most prominent of which was the participation of Mahrez in particular and Argentine striker Julian Alvares, and the midfielders also relieved the Belgian playmaker Kevin. De Bruyne and Spaniard Rodri.
Guardiola said about Mahrez’s achievement: “Riyad always complains to me when he does not play. But when he plays he is always on time and this is the most important. He is a player for the world stage. I am completely satisfied with Riyad.”
He continued, “We saw the great level of Riyadh several years ago when he was in the ranks of Leicester City. He has great ambition to score goals.”
As usual, City controlled the ball by a large percentage, but faced an organized defense from its opponent, who plays in the “Championship” league, until the referee awarded him a penalty kick after blocking the Portuguese Bernardo Silva inside the area, so Mahrez successfully attacked it two minutes before the end of the first half.
Mahrez succeeded in adding the second goal after he walked the ball without any interference and fired it into the net (61).
The Algerian scored the hat-trick when he received a ball from Jack Grealish and fired it at Al-Tayer into the net (66).
Mahrez became the first player to score a hat-trick in the England Cup semi-finals since Manchester United’s Alex Dawson scored against Fulham in 1958, according to the Opta statistics agency.
Mahrez said, “I feel great (by scoring a hat-trick). I don’t know which goal is the most beautiful, frankly. We played very seriously.”
He added, “Playing in the cup final means a lot to us. We want to make efforts in all competitions in which we participate. Now we have to focus on the league and our next match against Arsenal.”
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