Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi and his team-mate Adam Wharton were unable to join their club's FA Cup celebrations as they had to be rushed to hospital from Wembley Stadium. Both Guehi and Wharton were in the starting line-up for the prestigious match at the national stadium.
Palace clinched their first ever major trophy by defeating favourites Manchester City 1-0. The only goal of the match was netted by Eberechi Eze 16 minutes into the game, following a superb counter-attack by the Eagles. Goalkeeper Dean Henderson made a crucial penalty save towards the end of the first half, diving low to his right to parry Omar Marmoush's spot-kick. There was controversy earlier in the match when Henderson could arguably have been shown a red card for handball.
Guehi, the Palace captain, had to be substituted 57 minutes into the game after sustaining an eye injury, while Wharton was taken off near the end after blocking a shot from Kevin De Bruyne with his head. Despite this, Guehi was still able to lead his team up the iconic Wembley steps to hoist the FA Cup trophy and celebrate on the pitch with his team-mates after the final whistle.
However, the 24-year-old was subsequently taken to the hospital in an ambulance due to fears he might have fractured his eye socket, as he was also experiencing slight vision loss. Thankfully, tests have indicated that he has not suffered a fractured eye socket.
It remains uncertain whether he will be fit to participate in Palace's final two Premier League matches of the season. After spending a night in hospital, he was discharged around midnight. Joining him was Wharton, who was taken to hospital for concussion assessments. The midfielder shared an image on Instagram of himself clad in hospital robes.
Both players were absent from Palace's celebrations at Boxpark, located just outside Wembley Stadium. Palace manager Oliver Glasner expressed his joy at guiding his team to their first-ever major trophy victory.
"No one expected Frankfurt to win the Europa League and no one expected Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup. You can see what you can get when you are patient," he remarked.
"As football players and managers, the biggest success is not lifting the trophy. It's giving tens of thousands of our fans a moment for their life. Giving them great times. Maybe they have some problems at home so just to make them happy... we did it for our fans.
"For me, the strange thing is I feel empty. I will start to realise it tomorrow or Monday. The crazy thing is on Monday we have to think about the Wolves game on Tuesday.
"We said before the game that we wanted to write our own history and we have written a big chapter in our history, and next year we will do that again when we play in Europe. We have great characters, such a togetherness, a work ethic and a strong environment and atmosphere, and this is fundamental for achieving impossible things."