Crystal Palace beat Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley in the 2025 FA Cup final to secure the club’s first-ever major honour, ending a seven-match winless head to head run in the process.
In what was his final-ever FA Cup game for City before his summer departure, Kevin De Bruyne unsurprisingly pulled the strings early on. And in time-honoured fashion, he linked up with Erling Haaland, whose volley forced a smart stop out of Dean Henderson. City were relentless in the opening 15 minutes, but for all their hard work, it was a Palace counter attack which ignited the cup final. Palace’s own deadly duo were involved in the opener, as Daniel Muñoz marauded down the left and delivered a pinpoint cross, which Eberechi Eze swept home on the volley.
Palace defended valiantly, but two moments of madness almost undid all of their hard work. Perhaps it was a rush of blood to the head for Dean Henderson when he charged out of his goal to meet Erling Haaland, and looked to have handled the ball outside his area with the Norwegian bearing down. VAR surprisingly elected not to intervene though, and also stayed silent when Tyrick Mitchell made a rash-looking challenge on Bernardo Silva in the area, as he scythed down the Portuguese midfielder for a City penalty. Fortunately for the full back, Henderson – who City argued shouldn’t have been on the pitch – bailed him out, producing a stunning one-handed save to deny Omar Marmoush from the spot.
