By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Crystal Palace stunned Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final on Saturday to win the first major trophy of their 164-year-old history thanks to a goal from local boy Eberechi Eze.
At a sun-baked Wembley in front of delirious Palace fans, local boy Eze volleyed home after 16 minutes against the run of play while goalkeeper Dean Henderson performed heroics in goal and City wasted a sack-load of chances including a penalty.
England forward Eze’s goals in the last eight and semis had carried his team into the final for only the third time and after he struck again, Palace survived a City siege to spark a massive party for the south London fans.
“This is what dreams are made of, for me and this club. Who thought we could do it? We’ve made history,” said Eze, who was rejected by Arsenal and other clubs as a youth.
City’s loss in the Cup final for a second successive season summed up a harrowing campaign in which they have been dethroned as the powerhouse of English football and are without a domestic trophy for the first time since 2016-17.
In the game’s second decisive moment, Erling Haaland made way for Omar Marmoush to take a first-half penalty – but it was brilliantly tipped away by Henderson.
For Palace’s massed ranks decked in purple and blue, it was third time lucky after defeats in their previous two FA Cup final appearances in 1990 and 2016.
Oliver Glasner took charge of the club 15 months ago and had suffered a poor start to this campaign with Palace failing to win a Premier league game until late October.
Now he is the first Austrian coach to win the FA Cup.
Palace had heroes aplenty, none more so than Henderson though he was perhaps lucky not to have been sent off in the first half.
“Incredible. We had a feeling it would be our day today. We deserve this so much,” he said. “Haaland might have stepped up (for the penalty) but he gave it to Marmoush. I knew which way he was going. I knew I would save it.”
City have been a pale imitation of the side that has dominated the English game for most of the past decade.
But the way they began at Wembley suggested Pep Guardiola’s side were determined to prove that talk of their demise had been greatly exaggerated.
Having picked an ultra-attacking lineup shorn of defensive midfielders, City hemmed Palace deep inside their own half for the opening 15 minutes with Kevin de Bruyne pulling the strings on what was his last Wembley appearance in City colours.
INSPIRED HENDERSON
His lofted ball picked out Haaland whose stretching effort at the far post was brilliantly saved by Henderson who shortly afterwards beat out Josko Gvardiol’s header.
When Palace finally got past the halfway, they ripped through City’s lines to devastating effect.
Jean-Philippe Mateta played in Daniel Munoz and his cross was met by Eze who flashed a first-time volley past Stefan Ortega for his sixth goal in his last five games.
Ismaila Sarr nearly made it 2-0 but Ortega saved his close-range shot. Palace’s hearts were in their mouths when Henderson clawed the ball away marginally outside his area under pressure from Haaland, but a VAR check spared him, to Guardiola’s annoyance.
“The ball carried into my box and I knew it was fine – who cares?” England international Henderson said.
Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell was not so lucky when he tripped Bernardo Silva and referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot. Surprisingly, Haaland did not take it and instead Marmoush stepped forward for his first penalty since joining City in January, but Henderson dived to his right to save.
The inspired Henderson then made a flying save to keep out Jeremy Doku’s curling effort as Palace reached halftime ahead despite having only 19% of possession.
Munoz thought he had made it 2-0 just past the hour mark but a lengthy VAR check ruled his effort out for offside.
Seven-time winners City swarmed forward and went close numerous times after the break with Henderson saving a deflected effort by Claudio Echeverri and his defenders throwing their bodies on the line to preserve Palace’s lead.
A huge groan went up from the Palace fans at 10 minutes of stoppage time but after more close shaves and nail-biting the final whistle sounded and they could bellow the club’s anthem Glad All Over around the stadium.
The club, which traces its roots to 1861 and went professional in 1905, earns qualification to next year’s Europa League with the Cup win.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
