Crystal Palace beat Manchester City in the FA Cup Final
The body language of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told you everything you needed to know about not only City's defeat to Crystal Palace but the much bigger picture of City's dreadful Premier League season. For the first time in ages, Manchester City ended their season with nothing to show for their endeavours and the man who once transformed the fortunes of City and brought about a dramatic metamorphosis at the Etihad Stadium, now looked like a man who had been mortally offended by something that Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson must have said.
The seething anger and fury on Guardiola reminded us once again of the bitterness and frustration that City have endured through a Premier League season that, by their standards, must be written off as a complete catastrophe. Normally, the smiling, jovial, mild mannered Guardiola would have been a gracious figure even in defeat. But this time it was personal and Pep's world had crumbled around him and this was somehow unforgivable.
You fondly imagined how Malcolm Allison would have reacted to a Manchester City defeat in an FA Cup Final and all you can see is blue smoke drifting away from his expensive cigar and and a faint look of disgust and exasperation. Maybe Allison's always cheerful and avuncular assistant Joe Mercer would have just chuckled privately under his breath and insist that it wasn't the end of the world and worse things had happened at sea.
But the former Barcelona manager, with the matinee idol looks and the permanent bristle of hair on his face, must have been hurting and fuming. For the last four consecutive seasons Manchester City have looked unbeatable, untouchable and totally invincible at times. They've accumulated four successive Premier League titles, looking dominant and almost frighteningly good. Their Champions League triumph two years reflected the enormity of their stunning achievements.
On Saturday tea time though it was the red and blue of Crystal Palace who stole City's thunder. Crystal Palace, who had hitherto won only the Zenith Data Systems Cup and had already lost two FA Cup Finals to City's noisy neighbours Manchester United, finally and deservedly won this Cup Final. At one end of Wembley Stadium, a vast forest of red and blue flags swayed around in the gentle breezes of North London, jubilation unconfined and finally victorious in an FA Cup Final.
For some of us, although strictly adhering to impartiality, this was an uplifting sight to witness since the FA Cup does love its underdogs and romance is well and truly alive. When Steve Coppell, the former Palace manager, who just happened to be in the corporate seats at Wembley, was agonisingly denied by Manchester United in the 1990 FA Cup Final after a pulsating 3-3 draw in the first game, the conspiracy theorists got to work in 2016 when United repeated the victory over Palace.
And so it was that the team who once boasted the wonderful talents of Don Rogers, Vince Hilaire, Peter Taylor and Dave Swindlehurst in decades gone past, who bust a gut, fought valiantly and gallantly with all their heart and soul, battled courageously as if their lives depended on it. City didn't know what had hit just them and, for all City's customary frills, fripperies and technical brilliance, the petrol tank was empty and City's engine just spluttered out and left them desperately stuck on the hard shoulder waiting for the AA to arrive.
And yet for the first ten to fifteen minutes it could have been a very different story for City's cocky cavaliers, a team whose spellbinding passing game has left many an opponent dumbfounded and hypnotised. City were building their huge blocks of short passing movements that looked so effortless and instinctive that it only seemed a matter of time before City would break through. But then something happened, something completely unexpected and almost out of character for City. They took their feet off the accelerator, lost their focus and had none of the coping mechanisms that might have dug them out of any trouble.
Crystal Palace were at Wembley to win the FA Cup and Oliver Glasner, their eternally optimistic manager, was fed up with losing on the big occasion and knew Palace had it in them to defy the overwhelming odds. So Palace admirably responded to their manager's unwavering faith in them and took the game to City as if determined to bring home the golden treasure and bounty. They tackled ferociously, kept hold of the ball for as long as they could under the circumstances and just played their football, neatly and attractively at times but mostly on the counter attack since City were not about to relinquish any possession of the ball.
With Chris Richards, the outstandingly consistent Marc Guehi at his most steadfast and resolute, Tyrick Mitchell, wonderfully solid and reliable at the back and Adam Wharton competing tigerishly for every ball, Palace were a credit to both their parents and the club. And then it happened very early on. Crystal Palace broke out of defence swiftly and ultimately joyfully. A long ball was launched out of their defence, the ball held up nervelessly on the half way line before it was released to the overlapping and swashbuckling Daniel Munoz breaking into space who carried the ball forwards. Munoz cleverly ran at the City back four for all it was worth before cutting the ball back low to the onrushing Eberechi Eze who swept the ball firmly home with the side of his foot to open the scoring for Palace.
Palace must have been in dreamland and City were in mood to wake them up at that point. The Selhurst Park club were pinging the ball about sweetly and assuredly, lovely moments of improvisation from the remarkable Eze and there was something about Palace that City must have found disconcerting. They began to win the second ball much more frequently than they had for the first quarter of an hour or so. Palace won possession, dragged the ball into the City half with both a measured composure and a willingness to make use of the ball constructively.
From Palace's opening goal, there was never any real likelihood that City would gatecrash the Palace party who, quite literally, felt glad all over. At times it was all hands to the pump and backs to the wall for these flying Eagles and at times City had thrown so much of the kitchen sink at their South London opponents that there was barely any water left to keep City buoyant. City, for all their beautiful one touch football, were going nowhere, the final ball invariably being blocked or just frantically thumped into touch as far away as it was possible to be.
In the second half, City, with Kevin De Bruyne in the autumn of his career still searching, probing and prompting for City with some gleaming cameo moments, couldn't find anything in his kit bag to blow down the doors of a watertight Palace defence. De Bruyne is still one of the finest midfield players in the country and quite possibly the best but not at Wembley against Crystal Palace.
Jeremy Doku also enjoying a satisfying if not quite the most triumphant end to his season, was still tricking, deceiving, shimmying and body swerving past the Palace rearguard with a charming impishness and impudence. But this was not Doku's day and, when the final whistle went, both men just stood in the centre of the pitch, inconsolable, distraught and perhaps just exhausted. True the now veteran Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias were covering every blade of the Wembley pitch and doing their utmost to carve open Palace with incisive runs and cute back flicks. But even Savinho, the Brazilian failed to find the exotic South American samba routine while Manuel Akanji appeared clueless and perplexed.
Even the usually excellent Josko Gvardiol was like a lost, wandering soul for City and Erling Haaland, normally ruthless and destructive up front, had nothing to give for City. The Norwegian, with those blond locks of hair now fluttering in the wind, was never at his devastating best for City and the impetus had gone for City. And then there were those decisive turning points during the game which dictated the fate of this Cup Final.
When Dean Henderson came rushing out of his goal to thwart another City attack, his hand seemingly grabbing the ball outside his penalty area, the whole of the City team demanded a penalty and Henderson's eviction to the bench, sent off and red carded. But the penalty never arrived for City and the game was effectively over for the side who play at the Etihad Stadium. It looked as if this City would indeed would be given another penalty when the persistent Silva charged into the Palace box after a gloriously surgical one two had sliced open up the South London team. And so it would prove.
The new kid on the City block Omar Marmoosh stepped up to take the penalty and perhaps just a hint of hesitation in his run up, fired the ball confidently but only to find Dean Henderson. Henderson flung his body at the shot and the ball rebounded off the keeper's legs quite sharply. Palace were hysterically happy and now in a deep state of delirium. After a seemingly interminable amount of injury time, the final whistle went and Palace had, at long last, won the FA Cup.
For the neutrals this was the right result, the one that mattered and justice had been seen to be done. In 1973 Bob Stokoe, a vision in beige, had galloped onto the Wembley pitch after his then Second Division Sunderland had beaten the mighty, all conquering Leeds United, a giant killing of enormous proportions. In 1988 the Wimbledon, who had risen from the depths of non League football, overcame the magnificently gifted Liverpool with a classic mixture of dogged defiance and bold bravado. And now Crystal Palace have joined the recent and improbable FA Cup winners Wigan into the bargain. They certainly were glad all over and the Eagles have of course landed.