05:34 PM
Half-time: Man City 1 Sheff Utd 0
Bold strategy from Sheffield United with and without the ball but they have been undone by a rather reckless swipe by Jebbison, ‘a centre-forward’s tackle’. Prior to that City huffed and puffed but had found a house of Sheffield steel rather than straw and wood and United were dangerous on the break. But City always seem to have another gear.
05:31 PM
45 min: Man City 1 Sheff Utd 0
We’re going to have two minutes of stoppage time.
05:30 PM
43 min: Man City 1 Sheff Utd 0
Hard to tell whether Jebbison actually brushed the ball with his toe before swiping Bernardo‘s legs away. Hence not a clear and obvious error and VAR keeps his beak out. One replay suggested there was a touch, another that there wasn’t.
05:29 PM
GOAL!
Man City 1 Sheffield United 0 (Mahrez, pen). Buried unstoppably into the bottom right.
05:28 PM
42 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Bernardo goes down after Jebbison hooks his leg round him and catches him after defending a free-kick on the right. VAR agrees with the ref that Jebbison didn’t first touch the ball.
05:26 PM
40 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
City penalty? VAR check?
05:25 PM
38 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Alvarez tries to dribble down the inside-left channel but United have so many players back, two banks of five when they don’t have the ball, that he gets lassooed in congestion. Sheffield United’s tactics without the ball are smothering City so far. The champions are trying to make the pitch as big as possible with both Mahrez and Grealish ploughing the whitewashed furrows. But they can’t find any space in the middle.
05:21 PM
36 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
A might Steel City roar when United break up the left and have an overload but Ndiaye is hunted down by Walker and can’t force the shot past the full-back.
05:19 PM
34 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Haaland rises to meet the corner but was so well marked he couldn’t get a run at it so he imparts more vertical distance on it than horizontal. Jebbison lashes it clear when it dropped.
05:18 PM
32 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
City are dominant now and Walker joins in on a raid down the right but shrugs that he ha no passing options after firing a cross into a packed penalty box that hit a black-socked shin and cannoned out for a corner.
05:16 PM
30 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Baldock crashes into Gomez after the City left-back had released his back-pass. He sends him flying. A veritable freebie.
05:14 PM
28 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
City break at speed down the right and pierce the United midfield. But Robinson hurls himself in front of Bernardo’s cross and concedes a corner. Foderingham flaps at the corner but his defenders bail him out.
05:12 PM
26 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Robinson is penalised for wrapping his leg round Bernardo Silva to stop him effecting a one-two with Mahrez down the City right. Free-kick parallel with the 18-yard line. Mahrez whips a cross/shot towards the back post and Norwood heads it behind.
05:10 PM
24 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
City corner after Grealish mirrors Mahrez by cutting in from the left with a right-foot bender. This one was bothering the goal far more and Foderingham and his defence see it behind for a corner that United defend well.
05:09 PM
22 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Mahrez cuts in from the right on to his left as we have seen him do umpteen times. He wraps his instep around a shot, aiming for the bottom left corner but can’t find enough curl to turn in towards goal
05:08 PM
22 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Alvarez darts between Lowe and Robinson and into the box on the City right but gets the ball stuck under his feet and them moves it too far ahead of himself when he eventually digs it out.
05:06 PM
20 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
05:04 PM
18 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Robinson saves the day for Sheffield United with a good defensive header, having tracked Alvarez’s run down the inside right. The World Cup winner is dovetailing well with Haaland.
05:03 PM
16 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Berge diddles Gomez on the right and crosses. No near-post run though and City scramble it away to their right. Robinson, cutting in off the left flank, shoots tamely.
05:02 PM
13 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Haaland hammers a shit from 40 yards into the bottom left corner of the goal, a second after the referee had blown his whistle for a foul. Foderingham must have heard the whistle as he didn’t dive. Sweet strike, though.
04:59 PM
11 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Grealish, Alvarez and Gomez work a triangle on the left for the left-back to get round the back and flash over a cross that Ahmedhodzic heads behind for a corner. Mahrez fires the outswinger long for Haaland but Egan got in front of him to head behind for another which the Blades defend solidly again, this time at the price of a corner.
04:56 PM
9 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
City have been disjointed so far but are beginning to find some poise.
04:55 PM
7 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Another chance for Nidaye from another ball over the top from Foderingham and a heading battle won. It’s difficult, he has to hit it on the half-volley from the right of the box as it dipped over his shoulder but he can’t connect truly and drags it wide. Akanji did well to get very tight to him to stop him making the right contact.
04:51 PM
5 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
That ball over City’s high line is a productive tactic. Always hard to tell how full Wembley is because the plutocrats’ setas, opposite the camera, are often sparsely filled … as they are today.
04:49 PM
3 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
Baldock flies down the right on to ball clipped over the top and gets to the byline. He tries to centre but Laporte is back to block it out for a corner.
Norwood bends in the inswinging corner. Egan flicks it on and it lands at Ndiaye’s feet six yards out. But he takes a touch with his left and then fires a shot straight at Ortega. Had he hit it first time with his left, Ortega would not have had time to scramble to his right.
04:46 PM
1 min: Man City 0 Sheff Utd 0
United kick off, overloading on the right. They play it back to Ahmedhodzic who launches it up the wing. Gomez heads it clear.
04:43 PM
Out come the sides
Man City in light blue, white and light blue, Sheffield Unitd, Kyle Walker‘s boyhood Blades, in red and white stripes, black shorts and socks. The ITV director cuts to a commercial before they reach the field.
04:41 PM
Sheffield United fans belt out the Greasy Chip Butty song
As the teams assemble in the tunnel.
04:40 PM
Pep Guardiola speaks
It is the fourth time in a row we are here. We have lost the previous three but hopefully we can perform well today and reach the final. This is a special day at Wembley for supporters of both teams, a beautiful sunny day.
Sheffield United have the same style they had in the Premier League with Chris Wilder. They are really good. They’re a Premier League team, almost ready.
04:22 PM
Sheffield United unable to field two City loanees
Tommy Doyle and James McAtee have to sit this one out against their parent club.
04:05 PM
Your teams in black and white
Man City Ortega; Walker, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez; Gundogan, Bernardo Silva; Mahrez, Alvarez, Grealish; Haaland.
Substitutes Ederson, Dias, Phillips, Stones, Rodri, De Bruyne, Foden, Palmer, Lewis.
Sheff Utd Foderingham; Ahmedhodzic, Egan, Robinson; Baldock; Berge, Norwood, Fleck, Lowe; Jebbison, Ndiaye.
Substitutes Davies, Basham, McBurnie, Sharp, Coulibaly, Bogle, Clark, Arblaster, Brooks.
Referee Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).
04:00 PM
This is a nice story: ‘Bowler hats, sandwiches and a flask of tea – my memories of 1932 FA Cup final’
By Tony Bugby
Roy Ashton has just turned 100 and, ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final, he has a message for his beloved Sheffield United: “Win it for my birthday.”
Roy, a season-ticket holder at Bramall Lane, believes the Blades can pull off one of the greatest cup shocks by beating Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side on Saturday at Wembley.
He is not going on Saturday but is certain he will get the chance to watch United in the final come May. “When we win, and we shall win, I would love to be there for the final. United is my team and I’m going to be backing them all the way,” he says.
Roy was taken to Bramall Lane for the first time 96 years ago, aged just four, and was at Wembley in 1936 when the Blades reached the last of their six finals – a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal.
He was 13 years of age when his father John took him to the match, his first-ever trip to London, a day he can still vividly remember.
“I can still picture it now, being on the train going down to the game, like it was yesterday,” he said.
“There were two tables of four and I was by the window sitting next to dad. Across the aisle, some chaps were playing Pontoon and before we arrived at our destination, one of them gave up the game because he said he’d lost too much money so dad joined in.
“He did really well and towards the end of the journey was sharing the winnings with one of their group. The man asked if they wanted to cut for the whole lot and dad ended up winning enough to cover the price of our fares and entrance.”
Roy and his dad went on a special train which took them direct to Wembley. “We walked from home to the London Midland Station, as it used to be called, and when we got there, we just wandered around and took everything in before going into the ground,” Roy continues.
“Because Arsenal played in the same colours as us, it was just a sea of red and white. Like a kingdom of people from Sheffield. All the scarfs and bowler hats. I’d never been to London before, and we took a flask of tea and sandwiches with us.”
Roy celebrated his 100th birthday two days before the Good Friday home game against Wigan Athletic when he was taken on to the pitch and presented with a special shirt to mark the landmark by Chris Basham, his favourite current player.
He cites Jimmy Hagan as the best-ever Blades’ player he has seen closely followed by Tony Currie, another club legend.
Roy, who served in the 56th Division during WWII and was posted to Egypt, Palestine and Italy and had one lucky escape.
“There was one time when we were in the back of a truck and we started being shelled as we moved up the country,” he explained.
“I jumped out of the back and laid down near one of the wheels. A bullet went through the tyre, and I’ve thought from that moment that someone is looking over me.”
Roy, who worked in the motor spares trade, added he is most proud that his son and daughter, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren have all followed in his footsteps in supporting the Blades.
03:46 PM
Paul Heckingbottom’s starting XI
03:46 PM
City make six changes
03:23 PM
‘No one else on the planet thinks we can win’
By James Ducker
Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom has claimed “no one else on the planet” expects his side to be able to beat Manchester City in their FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
The Blades, who confirmed on Thursday that their transfer embargo from the EFL had been lifted, are bidding to pull off a huge upset against Pep Guardiola’s team at Wembley.
Heckingbottom’s side can secure their promotion to the Premier League with victory against West Bromwich Albion at Bramall Lane on Wednesday and the manager hopes the club will also have a first Cup final since 1936 to look forward to.
“Looking at the odds, there is probably no one else on the planet thinking we’ll be in the final, but that’s not to say we can’t do it,” Heckingbottom said. “We have to approach the game in that way and with the intention of causing an upset.
“This season so far has been great, the position we are in in the league, the FA Cup semi-final, it could end up being a really memorable season in this club’s history, but we have to achieve something for that.
“To do that in the FA Cup, we have to get past one of the best teams on the planet. It’s the most intense test you can probably have in world football. You could ask Bayern Munich and they’d probably say the same.”
City overcame Bayern on Wednesday to set up a second successive Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid and can boost their hopes of a fifth Premier League title in six seasons by beating leaders Arsenal at the Etihad on Wednesday.
Guardiola’s team are aiming to become only the second club in English football history, after Manchester United, to win the treble, and Heckingbottom is relishing the prospect of watching his side take on supreme opposition.
“We know who we are playing, we know their calibre of player and we need them to have an off day and us to be at our very, very best game,” he said.
“This is the calibre of player we want to play against every week so it’s pointless hiding away from it and being scared of it. If we achieve promotion this season then that’s where we’re at, that’s the level so let’s go and see what the standard really is.
“There’s no getting away that City are the very best. It’s a case of measuring us against that and not shying away from the fact that these are the players you want to be playing against all the time.”
Heckingbottom is wary of the threat posed by City’s 48-goal striker Erling Haaland but says they are asking for trouble if they train all their focus on the Norwegian.
“I don’t think you can ignore him because he’s that dangerous but he relies on others to supply him because of his game so there will be certain spaces you have to defend differently when he’s in the team, whether that’s space in behind or when the ball is wide,” he said.
“But if we solely focus on that there will be other areas that hurt us. You can overcomplicate it. We know how we play and want to deal with that threat. It’s an extra special test but we’ve got players who have faced City before and there have been some strong performances.
“Lots of teams have played City in totally different ways. We have to make sure we do it in our way, with the ball and without the ball.
“We have been really clear and disciplined about when and where we go after the ball and how we do it. But also what we do when that goes wrong.”
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