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Crystal Palace stun Man City to claim historic FA Cup triumph

Crystal Palace captured their first-ever FA Cup title with a stunning 1–0 win over Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday, thanks to a composed finish from Eberechi Eze and a heroic performance from goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Eze struck in the 16th minute, finishing off a lightning counter-attack with a sweet volley past Stefan Ortega after excellent build-up play from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Daniel Munoz. It was Palace’s only real foray into the City half in the first period, but it proved decisive.

While Eze grabbed the headlines with his goal, Henderson emerged as the true match-winner, saving a penalty from Omar Marmoush and producing several top-class stops, including a fingertip effort to deny Jeremy Doku. The Palace goalkeeper survived a VAR check after appearing to handle outside his box while challenging Erling Haaland, but officials deemed it not a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

“To be honest I can’t really believe it,” said Palace manager Oliver Glasner. “I think when you play this game 10 times, you win it once, and this happened today.”

City manager Pep Guardiola defended his team, saying: “We did everything but if you’re not going to score goals, you’re not going to win. Football is like this sometimes.”

Palace, beaten finalists in 1990 and 2016, now secure a place in next season’s Europa League. City, meanwhile, are set to finish the season without major silverware for the first time since 2016–17 and remain in a tight race for Champions League qualification.

(Source: AFP)

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