Eze strikes as Palace make history
Crystal Palace 1-0 City, FA Cup Final, 17 May 2025
Whatever star alignment was in place for this game, they were all in Crystal Palace’s favour and not City’s.
The South London side had never won a major trophy in their history, and it’s fair to say most neutrals were willing them to win this game. Erling Haaland and Josko Gvardiol had gone close to scoring before Eberechi Eze gave the Eagles the lead on 16 minutes.
But eight minutes later, a hugely controversial moment as Haaland raced on to a long pass and as he was about to take it around Dean Henderson, the Palace keeper tipped the ball off the Norwegian’s toe – clearly outside the box.
VAR decided it wasn’t a sending off offence, though to everyone else (other than Palace fans), it clearly was.
That decision was compounded by Henderson then saving Omar Marmoush’s penalty later in the half and going on to make several more excellent saves. The Blues couldn’t find a leveller and, in what was Kevin De Bruyne’s final game for the Club, Palace hung on to create their own piece of history.