Crystal Palace’s journey to FA Cup glory as Eagles soar to first major trophy

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Crystal Palace’s FA Cup journey culminated in a historic 1–0 victory over Manchester City in the 2025 final, securing their first major trophy in the club’s 164-year history. Eberechi Eze’s decisive goal and Dean Henderson’s crucial penalty save were pivotal in this triumph.  This win not only ended previous final defeats in 1990 and 2016 but also earned Palace a spot in the UEFA Europa League, marking a significant milestone for the club.

Transcript

00:00Well, Crystal Palace FA Cup winners for 2025, a sentence not many supporters of the Eagles

00:10probably would have ever imagined at the start of the campaign, especially when they made

00:14a very poor start to their Premier League season. And yet, under Oliver Glasner, this

00:19season they've rebuilt and they've got themselves into the FA Cup final and defeated Manchester

00:25City at Wembley by one goal to nil Eberiche as they're scoring the winning goal in the first

00:30half. And to be fair to Palace, most people will probably agree that they deserved to win

00:35that game. Yes, they didn't have a lot of the ball during the encounter at Wembley, but

00:40when they did have it, they were certainly the more threatening side. Manchester City not

00:44doing enough on the day to get themselves back into the game or even take the lead. Of course,

00:49they missed the penalty as well through Omar Mouche. So for Crystal Palace, scenes of utter

00:55jubilation, ecstasy, pandemonium. It was, of course, the first major trophy in their history

01:02and it means so much to all of their supporters, all of those who fill out Silhurst Park week

01:07in, week out. They now have a major trophy to put in the cabinet at the stadium. That

01:12is the FA Cup for the first time in their history. What a season it's been for Crystal Palace

01:17and, of course, that victory secures their first ever European competition spot as well

01:23as they qualify for the Europa League for next season as well. So history made by Crystal

01:28Palace at Wembley. Charles Higg-Jones, one of our London reporters, what do you make of

01:33it and just what seems for Palace and what can this inspire going into next season?

01:38Yeah, Crystal Palace's FA Cup journey was historic and emotionally charged with, you know, culminating

01:48in the club's first major trophy. It was obviously in its 164-year history. An amazing achievement

01:55for the Eagles. If we look back, you know, third round, narrow 1-0 victory over Stockport,

02:00Ebrecht Chiese scoring the decisive goal and into the fourth round and a 2-0 win against

02:06Doncaster Rovers, Daniel Munoz and Justin Deveni scoring those. Fifth round, Millwall, local

02:14derby sort of, you know, London-based, of course, 3-1 win, but that terrible injury to Jean-Philippe Mateta,

02:22obviously, which he still wears his ear band on. Munoz scoring again. He's been unbelievable for

02:30Crystal Palace this season. Eddie Nketiah and an own goal from Chaffet Tanganga as well. Then into the

02:36quarter-finals, 3-0 win away at Fulham. It was an amazing performance against their, again, another

02:43London rival, Eze, Ismail Asar and Nketiah scoring those goals. And then that semi-final against Aston Villa.

02:52Let's look at Villa going into it. They were one of the most informed sides in Europe. Oliver Glasner took

02:57them to the sword and it was unbelievable. I mean, a brace from Saar, Eze as well. I mean, you have to look

03:04at Ebrecht Chiese. He's been one of the standout players across the entire Premier League this season, in my eyes,

03:09especially across London. And, you know, Crystal Palace have an absolute gem on their hands. They obviously lost

03:15Michael Alise. They lost Wilfred Zaha before that as well. How important Ebrecht Chiese is to

03:22this Palace side is, you know, can't be overstated at all. And then you have the likes of Ismail Asar

03:28coming into his own as well and really reaching his full potential. Then you have to look at the

03:32final. I mean, going into it, Oliver Glasner warned Pep Guardiola, which is quite an amazing

03:37story, really, that if he did play that same system when Man City beat them just a few weeks

03:44back, they'd discover it. They wouldn't be able to handle Crystal Palace. And that's exactly how it

03:50panned out. City were dominant. City were dominant in possession. And in chances going

03:55forward, Dean Henderson, you know, played a massive role. Obviously, there was controversy

04:02about the possible handball issue. But to save a penalty from Omar Marmush, I mean, it just

04:09shows Manchester City's penalty issues that they have. They haven't had a firm penalty taker

04:14since Sergio Aguero, really. And they just can't continually score penalties. And it's

04:20just so devastating for them. Europa League, they are in it now. They are playing European

04:25football, a competition that Glasner has won with Frankfurt before. So that makes it even

04:30more interesting. I mean, an amazing time to be a Palace fan. And yeah, it's so positive at

04:36the moment. And all credit goes to Oliver Glasner and Crystal Palace. They've been absolutely

04:41fantastic throughout the entire campaign.

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