Oliver Glasner got into the mind of Pep Guardiola to end the major trophy drought of Crystal Palace and make a fair few people look foolish in the process.
The difference between glory and agony in 1990 was seven minutes. The margin separating ecstasy from heartbreak in 2016 was nine minutes. Crystal Palace supporters with enduring memories might have preferred the winner to be bundled in off Daichi Kamada’s arse with the very last touch of the game in stoppage time to prevent any late plot twists, but this was an agreeable enough alternative.
As those ten minutes added on at the end of the second half ticked away, fantasy started to morph seamlessly into reality. Some of these Palace fans had carried that Wembley pain with them for decades or even entire lifetimes. Many won’t have felt it, at least not in the same way, but the nature of football dictates that the residual trauma must be passed down through generations, the devotion solidified for eternity through that distant shared dream of one day seeing a team cross the finish line first even though it isn’t meant to.
“The biggest success we can have is not winning the trophy, it’s that is we could give thousands of our fans a moment for their lives,” said the manager. “We can give them great times. Maybe they have some problems, we give them hours and days they can forget all of this, just being happy.”
“We owe them a trophy and we got them one today,” added a disbelieving Steve Parish, whose 500-word post on a fan forum 15 years ago sparked a successful battle against liquidation and placed Palace on a path which has not always been especially clear.
On the eve of the final the co-owner outlined the “obligation” he felt in his role, but the same can be said for the supporters; that word perfectly described how the relationship can often feel. The long journeys, the late nights, the hundreds of thousands of pounds spent, so often played against the backdrop of a disappointing performance or result, but nothing can ever be done to weaken those ties or destroy those bonds.
Manchester City would have celebrated victory, but not like this. They will be back here habitually over the years and their first trophyless season in eight represents an unmitigated failure this particular piece of silverware could not have salvaged.
One club’s seasonal consolation prize was another’s finest achievement. Everyone in red and blue shared that one common link of never having seen Crystal Palace Football Club win a major trophy. No longer.
MORE ON CRYSTAL ACTUAL PALACE WINNING THE FA ACTUAL CUP
👉 Crystal Palace win first major trophy with FA Cup final triumph over Man City
👉 Oliver Glasner ‘can’t believe’ Crystal Palace have ended 119-year wait for major trophy
👉 ‘Ask the referee’ – Pep Guardiola insists Man City ‘did everything’ in FA Cup final as VAR question dodged
The last English club to win their first major trophy also did so against Manchester City, but that is where the parallels end with the 2013 version of Wigan and this iteration of Palace.
Roberto Martinez managed to enhance his reputation through a relegation the Latics have never recovered from, while Oliver Glasner and Palace continue to scale the heights together with no reason to believe this is anywhere close to the peak.
They have equalled their best Premier League points tally with two games remaining, are playing incredibly effective football under an inspiring coach and can plan for a European campaign with quiet confidence, the structures in place to push further.
With a record of three wins, one draw and no goals conceded against the two clown car finalists of this season’s tournament, they might even start as favourites.
“That’s what Oliver’s done. He made us all believe,” said Parish of a manager who reiterated before the game that “what we always talk about is that we don’t change our approach to a game, even if Man City are seen as the Goliath and we are the David”.
For a man so outwardly understated, Glasner clearly has a gift as a persuasive orator. Former Frankfurt captain Sebastian Rode said the Austrian “tries to let the team dream” and that has rung true at Selhurst Park; before his arrival, eight of their 16 FA and League Cup campaigns since their last final in 2016 ended in the first round they entered, often with heavily rotated teams as the focus was placed on Premier League stability. This is the first season in which they have reached at least the quarter-finals of both competitions since 1995, when it came with the caveat of relegation.
Six starters in the third-round win over Stockport were in the XI for the final, including Eberechi Eze as the scorer of the only goal in both games. From the quarter-final onwards they were basically full-strength, but even then Glasner felt no need to neglect a Premier League campaign in which they can no longer achieve anything tangible, resting no players in the win over a much-changed Spurs six days prior.
Glasner might have been laying it on a little thick considering the opponent when he said after that game that “if we perform on our top level, then we are very competitive against any team in the world,” but the winning mentality he has bred is awfully potent.
This FA Cup is physical, unthinkable proof of what he has done and can still do at Selhurst Park – although a Premier League table of results since his appointment is not bad evidence either:
It would be pure speculation to suggest Pep Guardiola’s approach for this final was influenced by Glasner’s unblinking “if we meet again you can’t play in this system because we will solve it” after Manchester City’s 5-2 win in April, but that starting line-up did feel like a massive overthink for the ages.
They certainly didn’t play in the same system; those types of players have never been deployed in that sort of formation and for good reason. It was a ludicrously attacking approach which produced no goals and the lack of midfield coverage was exposed in the game’s decisive moment.
Erling Haaland was given a masterclass in centre-forward play by Jean-Philippe Mateta and Kevin de Bruyne’s farewell tour including a vaguely passable rendition of Rodri was not on the cards.
No player made more fouls for either team than the booked Belgian, who did actually handle some transitions exceptionally well and made the joint-most tackles of any Manchester City player. But it does feel like there might be a better use of Kevin Actual De Bruyne, especially at 33.
The outright refusal to pick a midfield was one thing but Guardiola finding no room for Phil Foden from the start just emphasised how far his stock has fallen.
He at least made the matchday squad, which is more than can be said for James McAtee and, most curious of all, semi-final scorer Rico Lewis. In the case of the former at the very least it made his summer departure feel almost certain after a season in which Guardiola has openly admitted to not using him enough.
It meant a place on the bench for teenage South American pair Vitor Reis and Claudio Echeverri, the latter of whom would at least come on for his debut, look bright and almost score. He did then attract his manager’s ire for giving away a naive stoppage-time free-kick which wasted time and earned him a booking, because introducing a 19-year-old for his first-team debut in an FA Cup final with 15 minutes to play when trailing might actually be stupid.
But that aggressive outlook did prompt ten opening minutes almost entirely comprised of Manchester City passing the ball sideways with 11 Crystal Palace players in front of them.
Glasner’s side was committed and organised and only one delightful De Bruyne ball from the inside right snuck through, reaching Haaland at the back post for Dean Henderson to save.
Aside from that it was all Manchester City. In the first quarter of an hour they had three unanswered shots, 88.3% possession and posed a surprise threat from set-pieces. Ruben Dias must have been fuming – he completed three more passes than Palace after all.
The Palace goal cannot have helped his mood. Manchester City were undeniably on top but equally it did not feel as though that went against Glasner’s gameplan. The idea to soak up pressure and hit with numbers on the counter was clear; it was the execution that was slightly lacking.
Then a short goal kick was worked out to Chris Richards down by the corner flag on the right, and his long ball was controlled and offloaded exquisitely by Mateta. He combined with Kamada to release Munoz into space and his cross was converted superbly by Eze on the volley.
It was precisely as Glasner said: “What we always talk about is that we don’t change our approach to a game, even if Man City are seen as the Goliath and we are the David.” The surprise was not that the slingshot hit, but that it only needed to do so once to beat the giant.
Mateta was the key. There was no teammate within 20 yards when he brought the Richards pass down but in holding off Josko Gvardiol, releasing the ball and charging towards goal he moved his whole team from defence to attack in an instant.
That is centre-forward manna most teams would die for, on which note – a minute please to laugh at Millwall.
Soon after, Munoz put another ball in from a similar position which forced a Stefan Ortega save from Ismaila Sarr. Manchester City struggled to handle the wing-back all game and it cost them.
Munoz had a goal disallowed for offside, made the most tackles of any player for either side and was still bombing down that flank in the 86th minute when Jeremy Doku summarily refused to transfer that battle to his own half.
The Colombian has been the best right-sided defender in the Premier League this season and this was palpable reward for a player who has come to define this Palace side: brilliant, effective, passionate and often underappreciated.
It was no coincidence that one of Manchester City’s best openings presented itself shortly after a Palace attack. With the low block not quite in place, Gvardiol sensed space for Haaland to explore and played what was almost an inch-perfect ball from the edge of one area to the other.
What neither he nor Haaland might have accounted for was Henderson clawing the ball away just outside his box to no Manchester City appeals whatsoever.
An interminable VAR check concluded that it was unclear whether a goalscoring opportunity had been denied and with retrospective yellow cards unenforceable, the incident came and went – until obviously it was the only thing covered at half-time and entire rooms full of heads fell off.
Maxence Lacroix was covering but Haaland was only nudged further wide by the glove of Henderson, and might have been able to shoot instantly otherwise. It was a grey area, the mere existence of such suggests it was the right call not to intervene.
But that did mean Henderson would be absolutely integral to the result because the narrative demands as such. So when Tyrick Mitchell undermined his own excellent start by unnecessarily sliding in on Bernardo Silva to concede a penalty, the stage was set.
Haaland took the ball while there was another weirdly long wait for VAR to decree that yes, what we all figured had happened had indeed happened. Except the Norwegian was actually partaking in the performative routine of player who has no intention of taking the penalty but will absorb all the pressure until the time comes to hand over. Which is probably fine when you aren’t Erling Haaland and everyone assumes you’ll take it anyway so people just sort of leave you to it.
Not a single Palace player went over to get in the head of Haaland, who then kissed the ball and passed it down to Omar Marmoush, whose effort Henderson saved before smothering the follow-up.
It was bizarre for a wide variety of reasons, something Guardiola said the players “decided on the pitch” despite those things really needing proper delegation, and a decision Henderson revealed the folly of by saying “if Haaland might’ve stepped up, I didn’t know which way he’d go, but Marmoush, I knew which way he was going.”
And those are not hollow words. Manchester City messed around in a cup final and found out.
Oh, look at where Marmoush often shoots? https://t.co/qpZpWGn0B1
— Alex (@AlexanderBrkr) May 17, 2025
The use of De Bruyne as that sort of destroyer-creator hybrid was peculiar but to his credit he almost made it work. He made the most chances of any player in the game and seemed determined to mark his last moments on this stage in a Manchester City shirt with a victory.
One sumptuous pass played in Nico O’Reilly, whose inability to shift the ball out of his feet and onto his preferred right meant a couple of yards of space in the Palace area suddenly became none when Munoz recovered.
Another brilliant ball was supplied for Echeverri after brilliant interplay between Haaland, Foden and the Argentinean pulled Palace out of shape, but that effort was hit straight at Henderson.
De Bruyne’s two moments of individual magnificence being wasted at and by the feet of Manchester City’s two youngest players felt appropriate as he rages against the forced dying of his Etihad light.
Might Haaland have taken one of those chances? Not when he is a big-game bottler.
A lot of that was also down to Chris Richards, who did a phenomenal job of nullifying Haaland’s aerial threat with a couple of heroic back-post headers.
The key all along has been recruitment, the credit for which must go to Dougie Freedman. His recent departure for a similar position in Saudi Arabia is understandable on a personal level but the fruits of his labour are still being savoured at Selhurst Park.
Almost all of these players were signed in the last three years, with the exception of Football League captures Eze and Marc Guehi, and academy graduate Mitchell. The talent identification has been exemplary and that includes the coach. Only three Glasner era signings started, with Eddie Nketiah coming off the bench late on, yet this has been so unmistakably his team from a couple of months after his appointment. It is not necessary to name the contemporaries he puts to shame.
It is, however, entirely necessary to have a bit of a dig at Rio Ferdinand for his nonsense take on Freedman a while back.
If there are any other spare medals lying around after Saturday night then Roy Hodgson is probably due one, his hilariously atrocious cup record at Selhurst Park notwithstanding.
This Crystal Palace story is a triumph of processes. Their decisions on player and coaching recruitment have been ruthless, focused and phenomenal for a sustained period, allowing them to survive and thrive through the losses a team in their position on the ladder will always incur.
Eze has stepped into Michael Olise’s boots seamlessly with a tweak in the system to allow for more freedom, as summed up by his winning goal. Joachim Andersen was sold in the summer and Trevoh Chalobah recalled by Chelsea in the winter but Palace remain a ludicrously strong defensive unit, as underlined by a clean sheet Henderson felt destined to keep after that first half.
But none of it would have been possible without the stabilisers installed twice by Hodgson, both times after Parish was burned by ambitious yet speculative appointments. While Glasner has shattered that cycle with remarkable ease, his predecessor laid the groundwork in turning the Eagles into an established Premier League side with ample room to grow.
It really might get worse for Manchester City. The carelessness of those dropped points against Southampton have been laid painfully bare by Chelsea getting just about enough of their shit together at the right time and Aston Villa maintaining their exemplary form.
Guardiola has already raged against the fixture machine which could not grant his players an extra 24 hours rest before facing Bournemouth on Tuesday evening, with Fulham waiting on the final day.
Those are two opponents no team needing the points would wish to face. The players need to pick themselves up from this for two exceptionally difficult games with little room for error. Manchester City in the Europa Conference is still a tantalising possibility.
It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of German journalist Philipp Hinze on the “small English club” which will enter next season’s Europa League with a former winner of said competition in the dugout.
A penny for the thoughts of Julen Lopetegui, too, whose opinion has aged incredibly dreadfully in this particular campaign.
It is unlikely Palace or Glasner will care, nor will they be overlooked or undermined quite so easily in the future. They are the actual (FA Cup) champions.