Nothing is impossible: Crystal Palace’s first FA Cup win over Man City proves that

LONDON — Crystal Palace ended a 120-year wait for their first major trophy by beating Manchester City to win the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium, but their win was shrouded in controversy with goalkeeper Dean Henderson saving an Omar Marmoush penalty after escaping what seemed a clear red card minutes earlier.

Eberechi Eze’s goal in the 16th minute was enough to seal a 1-0 win and consign City to a second successive FA Cup final defeat.

But the Henderson incident was the headline moment of a dramatic cup final with the former Manchester United keeper escaping a red card for deliberate handball before saving Marmoush’s penalty.

The result means that Palace finally win a major trophy — the Eagles lost both of their previous FA Cup finals to Manchester United — and also leaves City empty-handed for the first time since Pep Guardiola’s first season as manager in 2016-17. — Mark Ogden

Glasner delivers romance and glory for Crystal Palace

Palace finally claimed major silverware in a victory that will give the competition a huge shot in the arm in terms of romance and the reality that dreams can come true.

Oliver Glasner, who guided Eintracht Frankfurt to UEFA Europa League success in 2021-22, has transformed Palace and made the south London club one of the most exciting teams in the Premier League since replacing Roy Hodgson as manager in Feburary 2024.

Despite losing star forward Michael Olise to Bayern Munich last summer, Glasner has molded a team including Eze, Marc Guéhi, Adam Wharton and Jean-Philippe Mateta that has proved it can live with the best teams in the country this season.

Ismaïla Sarr and the outstanding Daniel Muñoz also had a huge impact for Palace as Glasner’s game plan, of sitting deep and hitting City on the counter-attack, worked to perfection.

And having delivered a major trophy, Glasner now has the chance to repeat his European success with the Selhurst Park club after securing a place in next season’s Europa League with the Wembley win.

But Europe can wait for now. For Palace, it really is a case of third time lucky in the FA Cup final. — Ogden

Man City’s season hanging by a thread

This has been a disastrous weekend in City’s bid to salvage something from their season. Not only have they missed out on winning a trophy, but they’ve also slipped behind in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification.

Aston Villa’s win over Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea’s victory over Manchester United — both on Friday night — mean City are sixth in the table with two games left to play.

Guardiola has a job to do to lift his players before AFC Bournemouth head to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. He is already unhappy with the scheduling, believing that the game should have been moved to Wednesday or Thursday to afford his players more rest.

Bournemouth, themselves battling for a place in Europe, will be well prepared to take any advantage if City are off the pace.

Champions League qualification is still in City’s hands, and they should beat Bournemouth and Fulham on the final day of the season. That said, they’ve now failed to score against Southampton and Palace in back-to-back games, and several players are beginning to look exhausted.

They can’t afford to drop points against Bournemouth on Tuesday. Otherwise, they face a nervous final day at Craven Cottage. — Rob Dawson

Henderson was Palace’s hero, but he was City’s villain

Goalkeeper Henderson will go down as the Crystal Palace hero who saved a penalty to help the club win the FA Cup final and, with it, the Eagles’ first-ever major trophy.

But although the former Manchester United keeper’s 36th-minute save from Marmoush’s spot kick was the decisive moment in the final, Henderson really shouldn’t have been on the pitch to make the save.

Twelve minutes earlier, with Palace leading 1-0 following Eze’s goal in the 16th minute, Henderson rushed out of his penalty area and took the ball out of the path of City forward Erling Haaland with his outstretched hand.

Referee Stuart Attwell initially waved play on, but the incident was reviewed by VAR official Michael Salisbury, forcing Henderson and his Palace teammates into an anxious wait.

It was a clear handball, and Henderson was outside the penalty area. Had he not touched the ball, Haaland would have taken the ball around him and had an open goal in front of him.

But inexplicably, Salisbury chose not to refer Attwell to the pitchside monitor, so Henderson was given a reprieve from what would have been a red card decision.

City were furious, and their anger continued after the game with manager Guardiola confronting Henderson on the pitch, but the officials failed to get a big call right, and Palace escaped having to play with ten players for over an hour.

Henderson made the most of his reprieve, but you can bet that the controversy will rage on for days now. — Ogden

What is next for Eze?

It’s been a long road to the top for Eze. Released by Arsenal, Fulham, Reading and Millwall as a youngster, he has found a home at Crystal Palace via spells at Queens Park Rangers and Wycombe Wanderers.

But after five years at Selhurst Park, it might be time to move on. Eze has seen Olise leave Palace last summer and go on to play Champions League football at Bayern Munich. He’s just picked up a Bundesliga winners’ medal.

There’s nothing to suggest Eze can’t make the same step up. His goal against City was all about technique and timing. A perfect run into the box was meant with a finish so clever that it looked simple. It wasn’t.

Eze kicked off Palace’s cup run with the only goal in a 1-0 win over Stockport County in the third round, and he was outstanding in the semifinal against Aston Villa. He scored the first goal that day, too.

He had a sluggish start to the season after being part of the England squad at last summer’s Euros. But since the March international break, the 26-year-old has been superb, and he has six goals in his past five games.

They don’t come much bigger than a winner in the FA Cup final. Even though he’s earned Palace a place in the Europa League next season, he would be forgiven for eyeing up something bigger. — Dawson

Guardiola’s attacking team failed to take advantage

We’re used to Guardiola springing surprises in big games, and he did it again here. He picked a team packed with attackers, but with very little protection in midfield for his back four.

Mateo Kovacic wasn’t fit enough to be in the squad, and Ilkay Gündogan was left on the bench. It meant Bernardo Silva was asked to be the deepest-lying midfielder with help from Kevin De Bruyne. It didn’t work.

Guardiola said in his prematch news conference that he was wary of Palace breaking quickly, and when they did in the 16th minute, there wasn’t much in City’s midfield capable of breaking it up. The ball moved in a flash from Henderson up to Mateta, and by the time it was worked out to Muñoz on the left, it was already too late. It was a typical Palace goal.

At the other end, De Bruyne, Jérémy Doku, and Savinho only managed to create one half-chance for Haaland, and that was in the seventh minute when his acrobatic volley was saved by Henderson. After that, the Norwegian striker was left to feed off scraps, and at times at Wembley, he looked like a frustrated figure.

Palace were organized and compact in defense and lethal on the break when it mattered. Glasner’s game plan worked to perfection. — Dawson

De Bruyne out, Wirtz in? Man City need an overhaul

De Bruyne missed out on a glorious farewell as arguably Manchester City’s greatest-ever player by failing to reproduce his heroics of the past to inspire the team to victory against Crystal Palace at Wembley.

The City captain, 34 next month, will leave the Etihad at the end of the season after the club opted against a new contract for the Belgium midfielder. Although De Bruyne was one of City’s better players against Palace, he was merely the best of a bad bunch.

City want Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz to step into De Bruyne’s shoes, and talks have reportedly taken place with the Germany international this week in an attempt to persuade him to choose City over Bayern Munich. But it is clear that City need a player of Wirtz’s creativity and youthful energy because they lacked any kind of variety when trying to break Palace down.

De Bruyne can no longer do it, and those who could — Jack Grealish and Phil Foden — were named as substitutes by Guardiola. With De Bruyne going and Foden, Grealish, Silva, and Gündogan facing uncertain futures at the club, the sense of an era coming to an end is a real one.

This time, one of the greatest ever seen in English football has become a fading force, and the rebuild is bigger than City would want to believe. — Ogden