FA Cup Final: Crystal Palace shock Manchester City to win first major title

On Saturday 17 May, Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace stunned Manchester City 1-0 to claim the 2024/25 Emirates FA Cup title – the first major honour in the club’s 120-year professional history.

Fittingly, it was South London boy Eberechi Eze who fired home from a Daniel Muñoz cross early in the first half to net the eventual winning goal. From then on, Palace defended resolutely to restrict City to very few clear goalscoring opportunities and close out the game.

Goalkeeper Dean Henderson in particular was magnificent, making multiple key saves. The standout came in the 36th minute, denying Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush from the penalty spot with a strong right hand after Bernardo Silva had been felled by Tyrick Mitchell.

However, the English ‘keeper was lucky to even be on the pitch, just moments earlier escaping a red card for using his hands to shepherd the ball away from Erling Haaland a good distance outside of his penalty area.

Palace were deserved winners over the course of ninety minutes

City coach Pep Guardiola made his frustration with Henderson’s antics known at the conclusion of the game, refusing to accept the Palace man’s peace offering of a handshake.

Despite the Spaniard feeling wronged, Palace were deserved winners over the course of ninety minutes. The few decent chances City created, Henderson was equal to. The Eagles were even unlucky not to get a second when Muñoz tapped in, his effort disallowed as the ball had ricocheted off an offside Ismaïla Sarr.

After an excruciating ten minutes of second-half additional time, referee Stuart Attwell’s whistle was met with tears of joy from the red-and-blue half of Wembley as the Palace faithful celebrated their first-ever major honour.

While their side did once win the Full Members’ Cup – a short-lived, extra domestic competition that compensated for English clubs being barred from competing in Europe between 1985 and 1992 – Palace’s two previous FA Cup final defeats (in 1990 and 2016) were as close as they came to breaking this duck.

The South Londoners conceded just one goal en route to lifting what is the oldest trophy in world football, a remarkable achievement that as little as fifteen years ago would have been deemed a pipe dream for a side that were so close to going financially bust.

The promise of European football gives Palace fans even more to look forward to

Since then, the side have established themselves as a mainstay in the Premier League without ever really troubling the upper echelons of the table. Now, as a by-product of their Wembley win, Palace will compete in the Europa League next season – a competition coach Glasner has won before.

The promise of European football gives Palace fans even more to look forward to. What may be even more significant in the wider context of English football is the hope Palace’s cup triumph will give to fans of other, historically smaller sides.

Such success stories have become increasingly rare of late, with the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ dominating both on the field and financially. The cup triumphs of Wigan Athletic, Swansea City, and Leicester City have been outliers rather than the norm, yet Palace upsetting the odds demonstrates that, however unlikely, dreams of a Wembley win are not entirely impossible.

Saturday’s triumph will only increase the stocks of Eze and Glasner

Defeat for City means a first trophyless season since Guardiola’s English football debut in 2016/17 (discounting August’s Community Shield victory over their Manchester rivals). Such a disappointing campaign will likely initiate a major squad overhaul in the summer transfer window, despite already splashing £200 million on new recruits in January.

For Palace, Saturday’s triumph will only increase the stocks of Eze and Glasner. Even if owner Steve Parish has ambitions of his side pushing on and competing with the Premier League’s established top dogs, Palace will struggle to keep hold of such playing and coaching talent.

If the calibre of players recently (and reluctantly) let go by Newcastle United and Aston Villa are anything to go by, the very top of the Premier League is too much of a closed shop for these sides to breach.