Eze secures memorable day for Palace faithful

EBERECHI Eze’s 16th-minute goal fired Crystal Palace to the first major trophy in their history as they secured a 1-0 FA Cup victory over Manchester City at Wembley.

- By PHILIP DUNCAN

Eze put Palace ahead with their first attack of the match before an inspired Dean Henderson saved Omar Marmoush’s penalty.

However, Henderson could count himself fortunate to still be on the pitch after he earlier appeared to deny Erling Haaland a scoring opportunity when he handled the ball outside of his area.

Daniel Munoz's strike after the interval was then chalked off by VAR with Oliver Glasner’s side thwarting wave after wave of City possession to see out the victory and etch their names into the history books by winning the FA Cup for the first time and sealing a place in the Europa League.

For City, manager Pep Guardiola will have to wait for the 19th trophy of his tenure as his side’s defeat here caps a bitterly-disappointing campaign which could yet see them miss out on the Champions League next season.

It had started encouragingly for Guardiola’s players, who had Palace camped inside their own half for the opening quarter-of-an-hour with Haaland meeting Kevin De Bruyne’s cross after six minutes to force a decent save from Henderson.