Sheffield United 0 Manchester City 3: City take the FA Cup final prize, Blades head home with pride

For 40 minutes, the Blades frustrated Manchester City.

But it is hard to properly test the patience of a team who can leave out Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden, Ederson, Ruben Dias and John Stones and still name an XI to scare the living daylights out of you for a full 90 minutes.

Unable to stop the FA Cup semi-final turning into the game of defence versus attack most were expecting, the Blades eventually succumbed to a 3-0 defeat, with Riyad Mahrez - overlooked for a starting place in Munich on Wednesday - helping himself to a hat-trick.

Defeat, sadly, was expected, such are the gaping inequalities at the top of modern English football.

Defeatist though it may sound, more important to the Blades than the result was being able to leave Wembley with their heads held high and despite being unable to lay a glove on their opponents after the first 10 minutes, they could do that.

The losers went on a lap – or half-lap of honour – with heads held eye and supporters showing their appreciation. It said a lot.

If this was the least important game of City’s treble-chasing run-in, Paul Heckingbottom’s side have bigger fish to fry too and their fans were able to sing about promotion to the Premier League, something which should be confirmed on Wednesday.

When it came to how they would attack City, the Blades had showed their hand almost instantly.

With full-backs Kyle Walker and Sergio Gomez tucking into midfield when their team had possession, United knew there would be space in the channels if they could get the ball there quickly.

Twice inside the first seven minutes, long balls down the left-hand side of Aymeric Laporte ended with Iliad Ndiaye.

The first won a corner in the first minute, and the Senegal striker had his side’s best chance of the half from it, forcing Stefan Ortega into a low save when John Egan headed Oliver Norwood’s delivery on.

The next came when Daniel Jebbison, surprisingly selected ahead of Oli McBurnie, headed a ball on for him, but this effort missed the target.

From there it turned into a game of defence versus attack and although the red-and-white striped shirts held out until the 42nd minute, it was no surprise when they eventually cracked.

City had 80 per cent of the ball in the opening 45 minutes and seven corners, yet they were limited to just five shots and two of them on target.

The Championship side diligently funnelled men behind the ball and cut out the crosses, most of them coming from Walker.

In the 22nd minute Mahrez curled a shot wide and Wes Foderingham was soon touching a curling Bernardo Silva shot past his post but it was not a signal of the dam bursting.

Silva had a shot deflected wide but then Jack Robinson had forced an admittedly not too difficult save from a dragged shot at the other end.

But it could not lost forever.

Back helping out defensively, Jebbison took a swipe at Silva in the area after 40 minutes and Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot. Mahrez sent Foderingham the wrong way.

Perhaps Pep Guardiola told City to take more shots in his half-time team-talk, they certainly did, Ilkay Gundogan, Haaland and Grealish all chancing their arms in the early stages of the second half.

The second goal, in the 61st minute, was a poor one to concede, perhaps the product of the tired minds which comes from spending a whole half running towards your own goal.

Max Lowe dwelt on the ball near the centre spot, Mahrez robbed him and ran to within shooting distance before finding the net.

That felt like game over but it was five minutes later when Grealish teed up Mahrez to sweep the ball in that a ceasefire was called.

City fans began doing the Poznan and the subs poured on, Haaland, Grealish, Gundogan and Silva given a rest by Guardiola, Billy Sharp, Chris Basham, Ismailia Coulibaly and Jayden Bogle a run-out by Heckingbottom.

But the response of the Blades fans was the most telling - “The Blades are going up” they sang proudly as Mahrez celebrated.

With a front three of Ndiaye, Sharp and half-time substituteMcBurnie, the Blades continued to press from the front and try their utmost to score, however futile.

Julian Alvarez, City’s World Cup-winning reserve, stabbed wide in the 90th minute.

But from a Blades perspective, what happened off the field was more important than anything on it in the irrelevant final half-hour.

Sheffield United songs ran around the famous stadium.

After the dismal relegation of two years ago, this is a club with its pride back.

Manchester City: Ortega; Walker, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez; Gundogan (Phillips 75), Silva (Lewis 81); Mahrez, Alvarez, Grealish (Palmer 67); Haaland (Foden 67).

Unused substitutes: Ederson, Dias, Stones, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Lewis.

Sheffield United: Foderingham; Baldock (Bogle 75), Ahmedhodzic (Coulibaly 75), Egan, Robinson, Lowe ; Berge (Basham 75), Norwood, Fleck (Sharp 66); Jebbison (McBurnie 57), Ndiaye.

Unused substitutes: Davies, Clark, Arblaster, Brooks.

Referee: S Attwell (Nuneaton)