FA Cup semi-finals: Pep Guardiola out to end Manchester City's poor last-four form

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is determined his side will put their FA Cup semi-final hoodoo to rest at Wembley next month.

The six-time winners will face Sheffield United having thrashed Burnley in the quarter-finals.

City have achieved so much domestically since Guardiola arrived in 2016, including four Premier League titles.

However, FA Cup semi-finals have regularly left feelings of frustration and irritation.

Saturday's 6-0 win over Burnley means City have reached the last four in six out of Guardiola's seven seasons as manager. So far, they have only won one, and even that success, a single-goal triumph against Brighton in 2019, left Guardiola unhappy.

"The worst games we have played were always semi-final of FA Cup at Wembley," said Guardiola. "Our performances were really poor every time, even the year we won we struggled."

Last season City failed to recover from a 3-0 half-time deficit against Liverpool, while they have twice been beaten by Arsenal and once by Chelsea in the semi-finals.

"I can make you a huge list of what has happened," said Guardiola.

"We've played naively, no good. I know Liverpool are a good team but 3-0 at half-time? When we lost against Arsenal in Mikel's first season, it was really bad. Maybe one year we can play the semi-finals here in Manchester - and the Wembley people come here to change the dynamic?"

City's semi-final comes days after the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich and, despite the concentration of fixtures, Guardiola wants to see them give a good account of themselves.

"Hopefully this time we can behave as who we are," he said.

"It's not about reaching the final. I just always had the feeling that we didn't compete, we were not there, we were not hungry enough."