Eberechi Eze was the hero for Crystal Palace as his first half strike secured a 1-0 win against favourites Manchester City in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
Palace’s own deadly duo were involved in the opener, as Daniel Munoz marauded down the left and delivered a pinpoint cross, which Eberechi Eze swept home on the volley.
Palace defended valiantly, but two moments of madness almost undid all of their hard work. Perhaps it was a rush of blood to the head for Dean Henderson when he charged out of his goal to meet Erling Haaland, and looked to have handled the ball outside his area with the Norwegian bearing down.
VAR surprisingly elected not to intervene though, and also stayed silent when Tyrick Mitchell made a rash-looking challenge on Bernardo Silva in the area, as he scythed down the Portuguese midfielder for a City penalty.
Fortunately for the full back, Henderson – who City argued shouldn’t have been on the pitch – bailed him out, producing a stunning one-handed save to deny Omar Marmoush from the spot.
A product of the Manchester United academy, Henderson was proving to be an immovable object in the Eagles’ goal, and he conjured one more moment of magic before half-time, diving to his left to stunningly beat Doku’s curling effort away.
It was his heroics which gave Palace the platform to double their advantage – or so they briefly thought. Munoz was quickest to pounce on a loose ball inside the area which deflected to him off Ismaila Sarr, who was stood in an offside position, sparing City’s blushes.
City were uncharacteristically blunt in front of goal on the Wembley turf though, and that was best demonstrated when De Bruyne threaded a perfect ball through for Nico O’Reilly, only for the youngster to dither in the area and see his effort blocked by Munoz.
With desperation now setting in for City, Pep Guardiola took the unusual step to introduce a player most football fans won’t have heard of, introducing Claudio Echeverri for his debut.
His switch almost paid dividends just a few minutes later, when De Bruyne found him in the area, but the Argentine could only watch on with anguish as yet another Henderson save kept City at bay.
Palace were never likely to rest easy in the closing stages, and the sight of 10 minutes being held up on the board for added time certainly didn’t help with the nerves.
It is Palace’s first-ever major trophy in their 119 years history.
In their previous two appearances in the FA Cup finals in 1990 and 2016 they lost to Manchester United on both occasions.
This is the first time City would go trophyless under Pep Guardiola since his first season in charge.
