Key events
69 min City’s main attacking options on the bench include Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and, perhaps most importantly, Ilkay Gundogan. This feels like a Gundogan kind of game, same as the title decider against Aston Villa in 2022. He’s so good at finding space in a crowded penalty area.
68 min A Palace corner is half cleared to Kamada, whose chest-volley from distance flashes over the bar. Lovely effort though.
67 min Crystal Palace are 23 minutes away from their first major trophy. But that’s an ocean of time compared to 1990 and 2016.
66 min O’Reilly is booked for a cynical foul on Munoz, who has arguably been the best player on the pitch. I’d love to nick his Fitbit and pass it off as my own.
64 min ITV are reporting that Palace’s Paddy McCarthy, who was just involved in a full and frank exchange of views with a member of the City backroom staff, also had a head-to-head Hegelian dialectic* with Pep Guardiola in the tunnel at half-time. And why not, it’s an FA Cup final FFS>
* ™ Scott Murray
63 min Losing Guehi is a big blow, and Palace fans will note with alarm that he was suspended when they lost 5-2 at the Etihad last month.
61 min: Crystal Palace substitution It’s kicking off between the two benches. My word. Meanwhile Marc Guehi has been replaced by Jefferson Lerma – that may well be concussion after the ball smacked him in the face.
NO GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City
That’s a fairly simple decision. Sarr knew nothing about it but he was clearly offside when the ball hit him and ricocheted towards goal. Another twist in this compelling game.
VAR check for offside! I think this will be disallowed. Munoz’s first shot deflected off Haaland and onto Sarr, who was in an offside position.
Richards’ long throw from the right was only half cleared at the near post. Lacroix allowed the ball to run to Munoz, whose shot from 10 yards took a deflection and was very well saved by Orteta. But the ball ran loose and Munoz – still on the move, when isn’t he on the move – put it in from a tight angle.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-0 Man City (Munoz 58)
Daniel Munoz may just have gone into Crystal Palace folklore!
58 min Sarr’s dipping cross from the right is muffed by Akanji, who is relieved to see the ball run to Dias rather than Mateta.
57 min “I can tell from the names of Giovanni Cafagna’s cats, Ozzy and Lemmy, that he’s an easy listening fan,” says Simon McMahon. “Maybe he’ll like this?”
56 min Doku plays a clever pass into the area to find Bernardo Silva, who runs off Wharton and slides a low cross-shot that is brilliantly blocked by the sliding Kamada. It’s all City just now.
54 min Guehi is back on and blink-free. Okay, not blink free, we all need to blink, but he’s no longer doing it furiously.
53 min There’s a break in play while Guehi receives treatment. He was smacked in the face and is blinking furiously, prompting the ITV commentator Sam Matterface to wonder whether he wears contact lenses.
I don’t like to bring up the name of Jim Leighton during an FA Cup final involving Crystal Palace but this story needs to be shared at every opportunity.
52 min “I’m not a fan of either team and would love to see Crystal Palace win their first major trophy, but the non-red decision is baffling,” says Ted Graves. “If Henderson doesn’t swat the ball outside his box then Haaland is into the box and either lobs him or charges the goal. ‘Direction of play? Very odd decision based on the rules, the only explanation I can find is VAR didn’t want to send a player off with 3/4 of the game to go.”
That’s definitely the consensus. I’m still not sure whether it was clear and obvious, purely because of the doubt over the weight of Haaland’s touch and the potential of the covering defender to block any shot. But I’m going to shut up about it before I start receiving abusive emails.
Great block by Akanji
50 min A long throw from the right bounces across to Eze, who twists his body to smack a shot that is crucially blocked by Akanji. That was going right in the bottom corner, and another demonstration of Eze’s superb technique.
50 min “Fact that often flies under the radar: Glasner has already won the Europa League,” says Kiearn McKintosh. “So if Palace were to hold on, and go to that land, you wouldn’t bet against them giving it a good go…
“Big if though.”
Yeah, long way to go – they were seven minutes away in 1990 and nine in 2016 – but I agree with you. Their style feels suited to Europe. And just imagine the atmosphere for the home games.
49 min A cross from the right finds its way to Doku on the far side, 15 yards out. He tries to use Lacroix as a screen but curls over the bar.
48 min: Brilliant defending Richards strains every sinew to take a cross off the head of Haaland in the six-yard box. After Guehi’s in the first half, we just need a goal-saving header from Lacroix to complete the hat-trick.
46 min And they’re off.
One thing we can all agree on: next goal’s a big goal!
“It’s amusing how seamlessly the BBC pundits transitioned from the ‘Palace are being punished’ rhetoric before the goal straight into the ‘Palace can do this all day long’ talk after it,” writes Hasan. “As a Forest fan I’ve been watching counterattacking football all season long, and it was clear from the outset that Glasner’s boys were pretty comfortable soaking up pressure while waiting for chances to break, even taking into account City’s penalty chance. But that’s the problem with punditry nowadays: stick two geezers into an enclosed space with the remit of filling the silence with verbiage, and it isn’t long before they stop caring whether they make any sense or not.”
Two geezers? It’s just me, Hasan. (More seriously, because sometimes the laughter has to stop, I know what you mean but I do think you have to recognise the moodswings within games as well.)
The consensus of the ITV panel – Wright, Keane, Lescott – is that Dean Henderson should have been sent off. Even Ian Wright called the decision “pathetic”. I’m not sure it’s quite so straightforward. The reason it’s hard to be sure is that Haaland touches the ball and then, almost simultaneously, Henderson slaps it into a different postcode. So we don’t know for sure how light Haaland’s touch was, and that’s important because there was a defender getting back to cover.
On balance I think Haaland would have scored, but on balance isn’t the same as clear and obvious so I can at least understand why they didn’t send Henderson off. That said, if I was a City fan I’d be on Bluesky right now turning the air even bluer.
Jamie Jackson
The two questions are should Dean Henderson still be on (no, as his handball did deny a goalscoring chance) and why did Erling Haaland not take the penalty? Answer: he has missed three for Man City this season, so…
Overall the Sky Blues are rattled and yet again miss the serene Cary Grant cool of Rodri. This is not over, though, and for my money, Pep Guardiola should consider the differing dimension Jack Grealish, from the bench, would offer.
The other issue for the Catalan is: can his wobbly rearguard stop Crystal Palace’s lightning counter from scoring again, as it did for Eberechi Eze’s scintillating opener…
Ambassador, with all these FA Cup finals you’re really spoiling us
When I was growing up there was a holy trinity of football writers: David Lacey, Hugh McIlvanney and Brian Glanville. They’ve all left us now. Kevin Mitchell pays tribute to Brian Glanville, who has died aged 93.
A fascinating, controversial and often exhilarating first half ends with Palace ahead through Ebere Eze, who joyously added to his portfolio of fabulous goals. Dean Henderson – who might have been sent off for handling outside the area – saved a penalty from Omar Marmoush that might have been wrongly awarded; he also denied Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku with excellent saves.
Palace rationed their counter-attacks – they had only 19 per cent possession – but when they got anything resembling a decent ball up to Jean-Philippe Mateta he invariably made something happen. Daniel Munoz, who made Eze’s goal, was a bullet train on the right and almost made a second for Ismaila Sarr.
Half time: Crystal Palace 1-0 Man City
Pick the bones out of that.
45+1 min Marmoush is the sixth man to miss a penalty* in an FA Cup final.
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1910 Charlie Wallace (Aston Villa)
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1988 John Aldridge (Liverpool)
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1991 Gary Lineker (Tottenham)
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2010 Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth) and Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
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2025 Omar Marmoush (Man City)
* Or have one saved, this isn’t the time for pedantry.
45 min An irritated De Bruyne flattens Eze and is very, very lucky not to receive a yellow card. That’s poor refereeing.
Brilliant save by Henderson!
43 min Dean Henderson is playing a blinder. Doku barrels infield, past Munoz, and curls a powerful shot towards the far corner with his right foot. Henderson leaps top his left to make a fine one-handed save – but he can only push the ball up in the air in front of goal. Guehi does brilliantly to get between two City players and head the ball to safety. That might have been even better than Henderson’s save.
42 min “Not only was the penalty saved,” says Hugh Molloy, “but now Palace are in possession of a Borderline Penalty Card awarded under the unofficial Evening Up rules of the game.”
Have you been chatting to Mark Clattenburg?
41 min More quite brilliant hold-up play from Mateta almost leads to another Palace incision, but Sarr’s pass through to the rampaging Munoz is blocked.
Mateta has been a spectator for 39 minutes of the first half and an absolute star for the other two.
38 min “It’s amazing the aura City have built over the last decade or so, and how it colours our vision,” says Matt Dony. “Stepping back, there’s only six league places and 16 points between these two teams. City are closer points-wise to Palace than they are to Liverpool. There isn’t actually that much between them, really. And yet, we naturally fall back into seeing it in terms of ‘massive underdog’ and ‘almost-certain-winners’. That Palace goal feels like a shock, but it shouldn’t be. Maybe their likability plays into it; we’re not always used to ‘likable’ teams being good. But they are, indeed, good. If they win, they may well get patronised to within an inch of their lives, which will be a real shame. They’re here on merit, and they could win on merit.”
37 min This is an FA Cup final.
Henderson saves the penalty!
36 min Scenes galore at Wembley! Marmoush smashes the penalty low to the left and Henderson makes a brilliant one-handed save. Haaland follows up and Henderson dives gleefully on the ball as it bounces across the six-yard box.
The height of the penalty was in Henderson’s favour but it was still a marvellous save at full stretch. Marmoush’s kick was close to the corner and struck with venom.
35 min Erling Haaland has missed a few penalties this season, so it’ll be Omar Marmoush to take it.
The penalty stands! The VAR team have told Stuart Attwell that Mitchell didn’t touch the ball. I think that’s wrong; I’m sure that’s wrong. You can argue the touch was insufficient to invalidate the foul but that wasn’t what the VAR said.
Blimey, it’s all happening.
VAR check Hang on, Mitchell gets a very slight touch on the ball before he fouls Bernardo Silva. Is that enough?
Penalty to City!
33 min Bernardo Silva is fouled near the byline by Tyrick Mitchell, a needless and costly challenge because the ball was going out of play. Stuart Attwell takes a beat and then gives the penalty. Really clever play from Bernardo Silva.
32 min “One of the flaws of VAR: because it wasn’t judged to be a penalty or a red card it wasn’t anything, when justice would at least have been a yellow card and a free kick on the edge of the area,” says Richard Hirst.
I’d argue that’s a strength. Thin end of the wedge and all that. The only change I’d make is to allow VAR to be used if a second yellow card is shown erroneously.
30 min The game has slowed down a bit since that incident. Both teams look like they’re settling in for the long haul.
28 min “That was brilliant old school centre forward play from Mateta for the goal,” says Niall Mullen. “If someone scores following a near-post run I might die of nostalgia.”
And Sarr almost did.
27 min Henderson came to the edge of his area, panicked when he realised Haaland was going to get to the ball and instinctively slapped it away from danger. The key point is where Haaland’s touch would have taken the ball, without any intervention from Henderson, and whether there would have been a clear goalscoring opportunity.
I’d like to see it again but it looks like a really difficult decision for the VAR, particularly given our old friends Clear and Obvious. That said, if I was a City fan I’d be emitting steam at all angles.
No red card for Henderson
25 min We’re going to hear more about this if City don’t win. The VAR has apparently decided that, though Henderson handled the ball outside the area, the direction of play meant it wasn’t a clear goalscoring opportunity for Haaland. I can see both sides. I doubt City fans can, though, and I don’t blame them.
VAR check for a possible red card
24 min Gvardiol drives a long ball over the top towards Haaland. Henderson comes to the edge of the area, waits for the ball to bounce into the area and is robbed by Haaland.
The danger then passes but Henderson is in trouble here – he seemed to touch the ball outside the area, almost at the same time as Haaland, and it’s being checked by VAR. I think he might be off.
23 min The frequency of Palace’s counter-attacks is becoming a problem for City. This is fascinating stuff – for the first 15 minutes Palace barely crossed the halfway line.
22 min “Am living in a blissful picture right now, sunk in my personal sofa chair, sipping G&T, the FA Cup on telly, kissed by glorious warm countryside sunshine coming through the windows, Lemmy and Ozzy (the cats) scanning the fields hoping for some hunting action, and my wife promised to cook me sweet & sour pork tonight,” writes Giovanni Cafagna. “Crystal Palace winning would make the day perfect. I lived over a quarter century in South London (QPR supporter though, that’s another story) and have been to a few grounds south of the river, but CP’s atmosphere was always the best. Happy memories.”
Good save by Ortega!
20 min Oh-hoo, we’ve got a game on now. Eze sprays a pass out to Munoz, who drives another sharp cross towards the near post. The ball is almost behind Sarr, who does superbly to divert it past Gvardiol and towards goal. Ortega sees it late and pushes it out in front of goal; thankfully for City there are no Palace players there.
19 min Marmoush’s shot on the turn is blocked at source by Richards. That goal gets better every time you see it – not just the finish but the work of Kamada, Munoz and particularly Mateta.
Palace went long to beat the press and then played through the City defence. Mateta held the ball up expertly, combined neatly with Kamada to create some space and then found the overlapping Munoz on the right. He galloped forward and arrowed a cross towards Eze, who got in front of Akanji near the penalty spot and sidefooted an excellent volley past Ortega. That was such a hard volley to control on the run, or rather it would have been for most professional footballers. Ebere Eze is not most professional footballers.
