Eze's strike sees Crystal Palace defeat Manchester City in FA Cup Final
GLAD ALL OVER: Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi and Joel Ward lift the FA Cup. Pic: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
THIS IS WHY we talk about the magic of the FA Cup.
The grand old pot has perhaps lost some of its lustre, after being mismanaged by the English FA and overtaken by the Premier League, but this enthralling final was a reminder of its glory days, an illsutration that the best FA Cup finals are remembered long after league title wins are forgotten.
It was David beating Goliath, the plucky underdogs coming out on top against the richest club in world football.
Crystal Palace, assembled for a fraction of the behemoth that is Manchester City, had never won a trophy since its formation in 1861, but overcame Pep Guardiola's previously prolific trophy-winners through sheer grit, determination and super organisation by Oliver Glasner. They can now look forward to Europa League football next season as well.
They also had a stroke of good fortune when their goalkeeper Dean Henderson escaped punishment for handling the ball outside his area, which could have resulted in a red card.
As is often the case, Henderson then went on to be a Palace hero, by saving an Omar Marmoush penalty and making a string of superb saves.
He will go down in Palace history as a hero, along with Eberechi Eze, who scored the game's only goal in the 16th minute.
But it should be noted that all of Palace's players deserved their winners' medals with equal merit.
It was a superb team performance against the might of Manchester City, who will finish the season without a trophy for the first time since Guardiola's first season in 2016-17.
Eze's goal came as a result of Palace's first attack and was a carbon copy of the two he scored at Tottenham last weekend.
Daniel Munoz broke quickly down the right wing, crossed low into the penalty area, and Eze timed his run to perfection, meeting the ball with a first-time swing of his right boot to place it past Stefan Ortega.
Palace's fans, who had been noisier and more colourful since well before kick-off, went into raptures, and their side grew in confidence.
City had the lion's share of possession – almost 90 per cent in the opening period – but could not find a way past Henderson and his defence.
The keeper made his first save in the sixth minute to stop a close-range volley from the outstretched left leg of Erling Haaland.
He then blocked a header from Josko Gvardiol before the most controversial moment of the match, when Henderson clawed the ball off Haaland's boot just outside the penalty area.
Referee Stuart Atwell saw no offence, and when VAR checked for a possible red card offence, decided Haaland was moving away from goal and therefore the keeper had not denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
City were incensed, but then had a huge call go in their favour, when Bernardo Silva went flying over the outstretched boot of Tyrick Mitchell.
Replays showed the Palace full-back had got a toe to the ball first, with Silva already tumbling before contact was made, but VAR endorsed Atwell's award of a penalty.
Omar Marmoush stepped up, his shot was firm and well placed towards the bottom corner of goal, but Henderson anticipated correctly and made a superb one-handed save, denying Haaland's follow-up shot too.
Palace had only one other attempt on goal in the first half, when Munoz cut back from the right wing again in the 20th minute, but Ismaila Sarr was not as clinical as Eze had been and Ortega was able to save comfortably.
At the opposite end, Henderson continued to keep Palace in the game, with a fine save from Jeremy Doku's curling shot.
Palace's defending was resolute, too, with Daichi Kamada making a superb diving block to keep out Silva's shot early in the second-half, and Adam Wharton poleaxed after taking the full force of a Kevin De Bruyne shot in the face.
Marc Guehi had earlier departed after also being hit in the head with a shot from his team-mate Wharton, and Oliver Glasner had to reshuffle his side.
They thought they had a second goal in the 58th minute when Munoz squeezed the ball in from a tight angle after his initial shot had been deflected and half-stopped by Ortega.
But VAR found that the ball had struck Sarr in an offside position before Munoz got a second chance.
City poured forward in wave after wave, but Palace soaked it all up and Henderson continued to excel, saving a close-range shot from substitute Claudio Echeverri.
Palace's fans never stopped singing, but there must have been nerves when the fourth official showed ten minutes of stoppage time to be played.
Still Palace held firm, Henderson making another fine save before De Bruyne fired a volley high over the bar.
When Doku shot wide in the 99th minute, the Palace fans roared as if a goal had been scored.
Moments later, the celebrations began in earnest, as “Glad All Over,” the club's anthem boomed around Wembley.
Former managers Steve Coppell, Alan Smith, Roy Hodgson and their home grown former captain Gareth Southgate were all present join in the celebrations, and rarely have a club and their supporters enjoyed a day at Wembley quite like this one.
But for Guardiola and City, there is work to be done this summer to restore their winning mentality.
Henderson 9; Richards 7, Lacroix 7, Guehi 7 (Lerma 61); Munoz 8, Kamada 8, Wharton 8 (Hughes 87), Mitchell 7; Sarr 6, Mateta 7 (Nketiah 78), Eze 8.
Ortega 6; Akanji 6, Dias 6, Gvardiol 6; Savinho 6 (Echeverri 76), De Bruyne 6, Silva 6 (Gundogan 88), O'Reilly 6; Marmoush 5 (Foden 76), Haaland 5, Doku 7.
Stuart Atwell 6.
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