Riyad Mahrez scored a hat-trick as Manchester City snapped their losing streak in the English Football Association (FA) Cup semi-finals with a 3-0 stroll over second-tier Sheffield United at Wembley on Saturday.

After exiting at the semi-final stage for the last three seasons, Pep Guardiola's treble-chasing side were not about to suffer the same fate and won without requiring top gear.

It was the first FA Cup semi-final hat-trick since Alex Dawson for Manchester United against Fulham in 1958.

"The quality of Riyad we have seen for many years in this country, also with Leicester," Guardiola said of a player not always guaranteed a starting place at City.

"He is a huge mentality competitor. Huge ambition to score goals. Scoring at the end of the first half was so important."

City have not conceded a goal and scored 17 in reaching their 12th FA Cup final in which they could face Manchester United in what would be the showpiece's first all-Manchester clash.

Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah were on target as Liverpool edged Premier League strugglers Nottingham Forest 3-2 in a thrilling clash at Anfield on Saturday to climb to seventh in the table.

Juergen Klopp's men moved on to 50 points, one behind sixth-placed Aston Villa, while the defeat saw Forest drop to second-bottom in the table.

Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich slumped to a 3-1 loss at Mainz on Saturday, conceding all three goals in a span of 14 minutes in their latest slip-up which could prove costly in the race for the Bundesliga title with five games remaining.

The Bavarians, eliminated by Manchester City in the Champions League last eight on Wednesday, could not have imagined a worse afternoon after going 1-0 up courtesy of Sadio Mane's 29th minute header at the far post.

Despite having more than 70 percent of possession for more than an hour, Thomas Tuchel's Bayern, who have now won just two of their last seven matches under the former Mainz coach, were unable to carve out any more chances.

"We don't feel any energy any more," Tuchel said. "Too much has happened to this team and it struggles to bounce back when things don't go its way.

"It is brutally difficult to develop a spirit as a team to fight back. We struggle to win matches. We had the game under control but did not score a second goal. We are not focused enough."

(With input from agencies)