Eberechi Eze’s 16th-minute winner fired Crystal Palace to their maiden FA Cup title with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the 2024-25 Final.
Eze tucked away a 16th-minute winner from Jean-Philippe Mateta’s flicked touch of Daniel Munoz’s low cutback cross to seal Palace’s first-ever FA Cup title.
Man City wasted several chances including a 35th-minute penalty from Omar Marmoush which Dean Henderson comfortably blocked.
Palace’s title success also meant that they qualified for next season’s Europa League, where they will enter at the League Phase.
Widely considered underdogs coming into this final, Palace fended off early pressure as Dean Henderson saved Erling Haaland’s sixth-minute volley, followed by a header from Josko Gvardiol just six minutes later.
City’s attacking dominance however left their defence exposed to a 16th-minute counter-attack from a long ball which Mateta collected and played out wide to Munoz, who found Eze to smash into the left corner with a low cross flicked on by the back of Mateta’s right foot.
Henderson continued to enjoy an inspired first half as he blocked a bouncing ball from Haaland’s grasp on the edge of the box, which triggered a Video-Assistant Referee (VAR) review due to the potential denial of a goalscoring issue which was swiftly dismissed.
Palace’s defensive efforts almost told after 33 minutes as Tyrick Mitchell tackled Bernardo Silva to ground inside the box, yet Marmoush tamely put City’s penalty towards the bottom-left corner which was comfortably saved by Henderson who then denied Haaland on the follow-up.
City continued to press in vain for an equaliser before half-time as Jeremy Doku’s 43rd-minute shot was deflected by Henderson and cleared to Kevin De Bruyne, but the Belgian midfielder could only mis-hit his shot over the bar in his last cup final appearance for the Cityzens ahead of his summer exit.
That late first-half momentum quickly resumed in the second half as City began to press more up the right flank via Savinho with little luck against a resolute Palace defence, as Doku saw two shots blocked whilst the second block resulted in a corner which Haaland curled over the bar.
Palace stuck to their counter-attacking plan which almost paid off once more in the 58th minute as a throw-in was flicked forward by Munoz to Sarr, whose touch bounced past Ortega for Munoz to smash into the left corner but VAR disallowed the goal due to Sarr’s offside position to curtail Palace’s celebrations.
Man City manager, Pep Guardiola ended up turning to debutant, Claudio Echeverri in the 76th minute to try and at least force extra time in front of a crowd of 84,163 spectators.
Echeverri’s first shot was blocked comfortably by Henderson just six minutes after he came onto the pitch, whilst Haaland nodded a corner over the bar a minute earlier as City valiantly chased a late equaliser as ten minutes of injury-time was added on.
Palace nevertheless dug deep defensively to resiliently protect their lead to the final whistle which guaranteed a maiden FA Cup title, after finishing runners-up in 1990 and 2016.
Oliver Glasner’s Eagles will also be involved in Europe for the first time since their involvement in 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup as they achieved qualification for next season’s Europa League, joining teams like Bologna and Freiburg in the League Phase.
Speaking to BBC One post-match, Henderson admitted that Palace felt that this was their day after sticking to Glasner’s gameplan throughout the game.
“Incredible. We had a feeling it would be our day today. The manager got a gameplan and we executed it. We deserve this so much.”
What’s Next?
Palace return their focus to league matters with a home game against Wolves on Tuesday 20 May at 8pm BST at Selhurst Park, before their season concludes with a trip to Premier League champions, Liverpool on 25 May at 4pm.
Man City are also back in league action on both dates as they host Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium on 20 May at 8pm, before facing a final-day trip to Fulham (4pm) in their bid to secure a top-five finish.
Teams
Crystal Palace: Dean Henderson, Chris Richards, Maxime Lacroix, Marc Guehi (Lerma 61′), Daniel Munoz, Adam Wharton (Hughes 87′), Daichi Kamada, Tyrick Mitchell, Ismaila Sarr, Eberechi Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta (Nketiah 78′)
Substitutes: Ben Chilwell, Nathaniel Clyne, Justin Devenny, Will Hughes, Romain Esse, Jefferson Lerma, Eddie Nketiah, Matt Turner, Joel Ward
Man City: Stefan Ortega, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly, Bernardo Silva (Gundogan 88′), Kevin De Bruyne, Savinho (Foden 76′), Omar Marmoush (Echeverri 76′), Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland
Substitutes: Claudio Echeverri, Phil Foden, Nicolas Gonzalez, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan, Abdukodir Khusanov, Matheus Nunes, Ederson, Vitor Reis
Referee – Stuart Attwell
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