Crystal Palace made history at Wembley, winning their first ever major trophy with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final, sealed by a brilliant first-half goal from Eberechi Eze.
As he so often does, Pep Guardiola sprang a few surprises in his starting XI, going with a very attacking team against a side they put five past at the Etihad in April.
There was no recognised defensive midfielder, with Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva holding it down in the middle of the park, behind Omar Marmoush, who was playing next to Erling Haaland.
Crystal Palace’s team was pretty much what everyone expected, with Oliver Glasner massively boosted by Adam Wharton’s return to full fitness. He started next to Daichi Kamada as Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr were in behind Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Man City asserted their dominance early on, dominating possession as Palace stayed compact.
The first big chance of the afternoon fell to Haaland, who was found at the back post by a delicious De Bruyne cross at the back post with an acrobatic volley, forcing Dean Henderson – who had a hectic afternoon – to parry it behind for a corner.
It wasn’t the start Palace had hoped for but their fans’ singing voices were not deterred.
Josko Gvardiol was next to test Henderson, directing a powerful header on target from a corner. It was a decent save but one he is expected to make.
A City opener felt inevitable but it was Palace who struck first with a goal that sums this team up.
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Chris Richards, pinned into his own corner, found Mateta with a launch up to the halfway line and the Frenchman’s hold-up play was outstanding, laying it off to Kamada, who gave it back before Mateta found Daniel Munoz galloping on the overlap, his cross to Eze was perfect and the England man volleyed it in.
As Alan Shearer said, ‘That is Crystal Palace in a nutshell’.
They are devastating on the counter and City dominating possession and creating chances only to fall behind is their 2024/25 season in a nutshell.
Who needs the ball when you can play like that? When in doubt, lump it up to Jean-Phillipe Mateta and no defender is getting around him or even unsettling him; he’s like a prime Dennis Rodman boxing out a player for a rebound.
Palace hearts were soon in mouths thanks to Henderson, whose sweeper-keepering is up for debate.
After some hesitation, he allowed Haaland a chance to get the ball but Henderson palmed it wide, outside the box, but Haaland was likely taking the ball wide and away from a goalscoring position, but VAR saw no clear error. Hendo was a lucky boy.
In the 33rd minute, Tyrick Mitchell made a very stupid challenge in the box with Bernardo Silva going nowhere; he slid in and took the Portuguese down.
There was a VAR check to see if Mitchell played the ball but it was a stonewaller.
Haaland held the ball but was just a red herring – a bit of mind games before handing it to Marmoush, whose spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Henderson. This time Mitchell was the lucky Palace boy.
Ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final, Haaland had gone five City games without scoring at Wembley – and clearly didn’t fancy what should’ve been a gimme.
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Henderson made another incredible save to deny Jeremy Doku, but only parried the ball back into danger to cap off an absolutely chaotic first half.
Despite dominating, the half-time whistle came at the perfect time for City, whose heads were all over the place after the penalty miss. Manuel Akanji threw Mateta to the ground, Ruben Dias was crying again, and De Bruyne somehow avoided a yellow card for a late and nasty trip on Eze.
It was perfect timing for City — but not for those watching. It had been a breathless opening half that was getting very naughty towards the end.
You could tell straight away the second half was going to be worse, thanks to the ridiculous sun glare in the Palace box. FFS.
Palace caused City problems with a long throw-in that led to what they thought was their second goal. Unfortunately for them — and for those beautiful limbs — Munoz’s initial shot struck an offside Ismaila Sarr before the Colombian tapped in the rebound past Stefan Ortega.
Shortly after, Palace boss Oliver Glasner was forced to substitute captain Marc Guehi due to injury, with Jefferson Lerma coming on to play centre-back.
And in a final that’s had it all, even the backroom staff started beefing. It’s a mystery how no punches were thrown. Paddy McCarthy would absolutely have eaten that City physio alive, as well.
De Bruyne was making things tick for the Cityzens as they pushed for a late equaliser, setting up Nico O’Reilly with a perfect pass in the box — only for the youngster to shift the ball onto his left foot when he had a golden chance on his right.
Pep Guardiola was going Full Pep after his interesting starting XI, handing Claudio Echeverri his City debut off the bench, coming on alongside Phil Foden.
Glasner responded by bringing on Eddie Nketiah for Mateta.
Of course, the next big chance fell to Echeverri — but his strike was straight at Henderson, and his follow-up was blocked by Lerma. Still, what a pass from De Bruyne to find him. That man is still absolutely bloody brilliant.
Ten minutes were added on but City could not find an equaliser.
For the first time ever, Palace have won a major trophy. And they’ll be in Europe next season!
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