Crystal Palace WIN first ever trophy with incredible 1-0 FA Cup final triumph over Man City with Eze the hero

THEIR heroic penalty-saving goalkeeper should never have been on the pitch. 

They were outplayed for the vast majority of the match and enjoyed little more than 20 per cent of possession. 

APEberechi Eze fires Crystal Palace into the lead[/caption] GettyEze celebrates his 16th minute opener[/caption]

But frankly, who outside of the blue half of Manchester cares? 

Because Crystal Palace’s triumph was a classic FA Cup Final underdog story in one of the most thrilling and incident-packed finals in years.

Eberechi Eze’s early strike secured the first major trophy in their long history and a place in the Europa League, their first serious taste of European competition. 

Keeper Dean Henderson repelled Omar Marmoush’s first-half penalty, just minutes after he should have been sent off for handling outside the box to rob Erling Haaland of the ball. 

An extraordinary blunder from VAR Michael Salisbury allowed Henderson to stay on the pitch and the keeper took full advantage of his reprieve with a string of fine saves. 

And as the red-and-blue army from south of the river sang their hearts out, Oliver Glasner’s men defended with purpose and passion to deny Pep Guardiola’s fallen four-in-a-row champions their last remaining chance of major silverware this season. 

Kevin De Bruyne’s Wembley swansong fell flat as City simply ran out of ideas. 

But Palace played with a sense of destiny. After 120 years in the professional game, and with the club claiming to have been around since 1861, their time had finally come.

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This is a seriously good Palace, who have been outstanding form the last six months, following a dismal start to the season. 

Their defence is outstanding, midfielder Adam Wharton is a serious craftsman, wing-back Daniel Munoz is often unplayable and the flying front free of Eze, Jean Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr are a counter-attacking tour de force.

The pre-match build-up had been literally overshadowed by the Palace pyrotechnics, adding an acrid smell as the band of the Royal Marines parped away at God Save The King. 

There was plenty of Palace royalty around – Prince William, Sir Gareth Southgate and Roy Hodgson among them. 

City fans had unfurled a couple of banners saluting De Bruyne – and Guardiola even had the decency to select him the starting line-up, something he often didn’t do for big matches, even when the Belgian was in his pomp. 

It was an attacking line-up from Guardiola – with semi-final man-of-the-match Mateo Kovacic injured, Rodri still out and Nico Gonzalez on the bench there was no obvious midield anchor man. 

Within three minutes De Bruyne’s cross was picking out Haaland at the back stick, Henderson thwarting his volley for his first excellent save of the afternoon. 

After Josko Gvardiol’s header had forced another decent stop, City were boasting 88 per cent possession in the opening quarter of an hour.

And then Palace scored on their first serious attack.  

Chris Richards played a long ball into the centre circle where Mateta held it up, exchanged pass with Sarr and then located Daniel Munoz, charging down the right. 

Dean Henderson got away with handling outside the box

The wing-back centred for Eze to get in front of Manuel Akanji and steer a low volley past Stefan Ortega.   

Before kick-off, the Palace fans had unfurled a banner promising ‘Wembley will shake…it will be beautiful’. 

They were true to their word – it did and it was. 

Munoz, the Colombian with lungs the size of footballs, was soon marauding down the flank again for a Sarr shot which Ortega blocked. 

Then, though, came that moment of raging controversy when Haaland charged forward and Henderson advanced to the edge of his box to scoop the ball away from the Norwegian’s foot. 

VAR was soon doing its baffling thing. Henderson had clearly handled outside the box but Michael Salisbury decided that the sight of Haaland careering through on goal, on the edge of the area, did not constitute a goalscoring opportunity.

It is not an opinion which many opposition defenders, or coaches, would share. 

Salisbury’s decision was based on the fact that Haaland was moving away from goal. Ignoring the fact that he would have changed direction and probably scored if Henderson hadn’t handled it. 

But as VAR cannot award free-kicks and yellow cards, a clear injustice was allowed to stand. 

It felt vastly predictable that Henderson’s reprieve was costly for City and embarrassing for the match officials. 

Tyrick Mitchell dived in on Bernardo Silva and Attwell pointed to the spot. 

GettyErling Haaland handed penalty duties to Omar Marmoush[/caption] Shutterstock EditorialMarmoush was denied from the spot by Henderson[/caption]

But Haaland, who had missed three of his last six spot-kicks, gave way to Marmoush, whose shot was brilliantly saved by Henderson, diving low to his right before he smothered Haaland’s follow-up. 

Next Jeremy Doku cut inside from the left and had a curling shot brilliantly saved by the man who shouldn’t have been in the Palace goal. 

After the break, City were attacking with vengeful intent – Haaland and Doku both going close again.

But it was Palace who found the net, although this one didn’t count. 

A long throw caused chaos in the City box and Munoz’s shot took a couple of deflections – one of them off Sarr, before it squirmed away from Ortega and allowed Munoz to dart in and poke across the line. 

This time, however, Salisbury did his job and some manic celebrations were cut short. 

During the VAR check an altercation broke out between the two benches. 

City had all the possession but Palace defended as if possessed by some demonic sense of purpose. 

Nico O’Reilly had a clear sight of goal but decided not to shoot, then Guardiola sent for Phil Foden and Argentinian debutant Claudio Echeverri.  

And it was Echeverri who forced Henderson’s next fine save, a block from point-blank range – before ten minutes of injury-time were called. The longest ten minutes of every Palace’s supporters’ life.