Crystal Palace fans celebrate winning the FA Cup and claiming their first ever major trophy (Talk Sport)
by Mick the Ram
In a demonstration of extreme concentration, fighting-spirit and a couple of flashes of skill, Crystal Palace have overcome the odds to beat Manchester City 1-0 to lift the FA Cup at Wembley.
A goal by England international Eberechi Eze was enough to secure a famous victory and seal not only their first FA Cup success, but also the first major trophy in their 119-year history.
The South Londoners were aided by a missed penalty by their opponents, who seemed too passive throughout and simply could not find a way through a well-drilled rearguard.
It means European football next year for the Eagles; whilst for City it is another massive blow in a hugely disappointing season by their high standards.
Full of belief
On a gloriously sunny day in the capital, Crystal Palace went into the match as big underdogs in the media, but there was strong belief in their own camp that they had enough in their squad to cause an upset.
After two previous visits to the final against the team from the red side of Manchester ended in heartbreak, the Selhurst Park outfit were desperate for a third-time-lucky scenario to play out.
One-way traffic
There were just over 84,000 in the ground, as manager Oliver Glasner became the first Austrian to lead a team out in the FA Cup final, and who knew he had to be tactically spot-on to get any reward.
Pep Guardiola’s side have had a season to forget and would have seen this as an opportunity to salvage something, and in the first 15 minutes it looked as if they were up for the task, controlling the game with an astonishing 88% possession.
Perfect response
Then, in just about their first venture into City’s half, Palace counter-attacked superbly with Jean-Philippe Mateta holding the ball up brilliantly, before feeding his wing-back Daniel Munoz on the right.
He in turn delivered the perfect ball across for the in-rushing Ebereche Eze to get in front of his marker Manuel Akanji, and fire the Eagles ahead.
It was poor defending by the city player, but Eze timed his run to perfection and once he made the right contact there was nothing goalkeeper Stefan Ortega could do to keep it out.
Lucky to stay on
A controversial moment which could have completely swung the game then occurred late in the half. Josko Gvardiol sent a long ball from deep towards Erling Haaland and Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson arrived first and palmed the ball away from the giant Norweian striker.
However, replays appeared to show that he had handled outside of his area and therefore to the letter of the law, he should have been re-carded.
Penalty saved
He stayed on the pitch though and the controversy gained traction just minutes later when Bernardo Silva was brought down in the box by Tyrick Mitchell and the referee awarded a penalty.
To most people’s surprise, it wasn’t Haaland, or even Kevin de Bruyne who stepped up to take it, but instead the responsibility fell to Omar Marmoush.
The keeper guessed the right way and the Egyptian’s strike was at a nice height for Henderson to make a straightforward save and preserve Palace’s lead, although strictly speaking he was lucky to still be on the pitch.
Could have been two
City looked rattled and essentially, unbalanced. The absence of Rodri was being felt, as it had all season in all honesty.
Nevertheless, they began the second half brightly with Savinho skipping past his marker twice in the opening minutes to offer encouragement to the city fans, now behind the goal their team was attacking.
It looked however, if they had gone further behind, when a long throw caused chaos in the penalty area and Munoz – who had an outstanding game – reacted quickest to slot home, but VAR spotted an offside so it remained 1-0.
Injury-time torture for fans
City brought on Phil Foden and 19-year-old Claudio Echeverri for a debut and he had a fantastic chance to score with his first touch, but was denied by that man Henderson again.
There was an agonising ten minutes of injury time played, but the Palace fans shouted their team home to a famous victory, with players collapsing on the turf at the final whistle, scarcely able to believe it.
Was it destiny?
It had been a tactical masterclass by the team from South London, executed with determination and fight. For Manchester City it meant a trophy-less season.
That mattered not a bit to everyone from Crystal Palace, who for many believed there was a touch of destiny about the win.
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