WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON — Eberechi Eze gave Crystal Palace a famous 1-0 win over Manchester City in the 144th FA Cup final, securing a first-ever major honour for the London club.
Oliver Glasner’s side hit the front decisively in the 16th minute when Eze dispatched Daniel Munoz’s cross to crown a wonderful counter-attack.
That was one of few notable Palace forays as an attack-minded City dominated possession, but Omar Marmoush had a 35th-minute penalty saved by Dean Henderson after Tyrick Mitchell brought down Bernardo Silva.
There were, however, questions over whether Henderson should still have been on the field when he handled outside the area under pressure from Erling Haaland. VAR decided it was not a clear goalscoring opportunity.
MORE: Latest live updates | Team news and lineups | Where to watch where you are
Crystal Palace vs. Man City score
| Fulltime | Goalscorers | |
| Palace | 1 | Eze 16′ |
| Man City | 0 |
Venue: Wembley, London
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Lineups:
Crystal Palace (3-4-3, right to left): 1. Dean Henderson (GK) — 3. Chris Richards, 5. Maxence Lacroix, 6. Marc Guehi (8. Jefferson Lermna) — 12. Daniel Munoz, 20. Adam Wharton (19. Will Hughes), 18. Daichi Kamada, 3. Tyrick Mitchell — 7. Ismaila Sarr, 14. Jean-Phillipe Mateta (9. Eddie Nketiah), 10 Eberechi Eze
Man City (4-1-4-1, right to left): 18. Stefan Ortega (GK) — 25. Manuel Akanji, 3. Ruben Dias, 24. Josko Gvardiol, 75. Nico O’Reilly — 20. Bernardo Silva (19. Ilkay Gundogan) — 26. Savinho (47. Phil Foden), 17. Kevin De Bruyne, 7. Omar Marmoush (30. Claudio Echeverri), 11.Jeremy Doku — 9. Erling Haaland
MORE: How do Man City replace Kevin De Bruyne? Five transfer options for Pep Guardiola
Former England forward Wayne Rooney – working as a pundit for the BBC – lambasted the decision not to send off his one-time Manchester United teammate, but Henderson continued to excel with saves from Jeremy Doku and teenage City debutant Claudio Echeverri.
Kevin De Bruyne, playing in his last final for City, was unable to conjure an equaliser after Palace wing-back Daniel Munoz had a scrambled second-half effort chalked off for offside.
A Palace defence marshalled brilliantly by Maxence Lacroix after Marc Guehi departed with a head injury would not be denied, and the raucous Eagles fans packed into Wembley will talk about this “I was there” moment for decades to come. The old romance of the FA Cup burned brightly at England’s national stadium.
City’s first campaign without a domestic trophy since 2016/17 is confirmed, and Guardiola must now lift their spirits and tired limbs to secure Champions League football in their final two games of the Premier League season against Bournemouth and Fulham.
Crystal Palace vs Man City stats
| Crystal Palace | Stat | Man City |
| 7 | Shots | 23 |
| 2 | Shots on target | 6 |
| 0.67 | Expected goals | 2.3 |
| 21% | Possession | 79% |
| 192 | Passes | 678 |
| 1 | Corners | 7 |
| 7 | Fouls | 7 |
| 1 | Yellow cards | 5 |
| 7 | Offsides | 1 |
Crystal Palace vs. Man City live updates, highlights, and commentary
Fulltime: CRYSTAL PALACE WIN THE FA CUP!!!!!!
Palace have their first major trophy! What a day for the Eagles. They certainly had to work for it after Eberechi Eze’s fine 16th-minute opener. Goalkeeper Dean Henderson excelled himself and saved a penalty from Omar Marmoush after Erling Haaland decided he didn’t fancy the job. Should he have been on the pitch at the time? The Palace fans going ballistic over to my right do not care one bit. What a moment for them and their club. Thanks for joining us.
All over at Wembley. History for Crystal Palace, their first major trophy. Scenes pic.twitter.com/cx56rOLtaT
— Dom Farrell (@DomFarrell1986) May 17, 2025
90+10 mins: Doku scuffs a tame drive wide and City are surely out of road now.
90+7 mins: A wretched cross from Foden goes out for a goalkick and the Palace fans roar.
90+5 mins: Henderson saves from Echeverri again! More excellent work. City want a penalty for handball as their young forward gets to the follow-up but there’s nothing doing.
90+3 mins: The ball breaks to De Bruyne on the edge of the area, he hits it with the outside of his foot and it fades wide of the right-hand post.
90 mins: There will be will be TEN MINUTES OF ADDED TIME! How are your nerves, Palace fans?
88 mins: Ilkay Gundogan, who scored both goals when City last won this final two years ago is on for the tireless Silva in Guardiola’s last roll of the dice.
86 mins: A little bit of the best form of attack being defence for Palace, as a rumbling foray ends with Munoz smashing across the face of goal. Wharton, who just took a whack off Echeverri, makes way for Will Hughes.
85 mins: De Bruyne the latest City player into he book. Palace can see and smell the finish line.
82 mins: Big chance for Echeverri… excellent stop from Henderson! De Bruyne and Foden crafted that attack really well with the Argentine teenager but the Palace goalkeeper excels himself again.
77 mins: Palace change, with Nketiah coming in for Mateta, who’s been pretty colossal.
76 mins: Double change for City and Foden replaces Doku and Echeverri comes on to make his debut in place of Marmoush. No pressure, young man.
75 mins: De Bruyne is getting on the ball too often in dangerous positions for Glasner’s liking. One pass finds O’Reilly and requires a last-ditch challenge before an Marmoush daisy cutter is deflected behind. Palace break from the corner and Silva is booked for taking down Mateta.
72 mins: City moving around a tired but phenomenally disciplined Palace. Doku engineers some room for De Bruyne to shoot and it wipes out Wharton. We have more treatment for another head injury.
68 mins: A bit of head tennis before Kamada hits a sweet volley just over, but the offside flag was up.
67 mins: Doku hustled into giving away a corner in front of that raucous Palace end.
66 mins: Lovely touch from Haaland but he can’t find Marmoush with the through-ball. Palace respond and O’Reilly is booked for pulling back Munoz.
65 mins: Savinho digs out a cross with the outside of his foot, which is all fun and games unless you plop it straight into the goalkeeper’s gloves.
61 mins: OFFSIDE, NO GOAL! Sarr we offside when the ball deflected off him prior to Munoz putting it into the net. On we go. Lerma replaces the dishevelled Guehi and there’s some aggro between the benches.
59 mins: GGGGOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!! Daniel Munoz!!!!! Scramble in the City box, Ortega can only half get to it and Munoz clatters home from close to the goalline. There’s a VAR check though….
57 mins: Haaland has an attempt blocked from the corner before firing over on the volley at the second attempt.
56 mins: Incredible block from Kamada! Doku did well to engineer space for Silva inside the Palace box. He’s ready to cut the trigger and probably score but the Japan midfielder slides in heroically. That’s the sort of thing that wins cup finals.
55 mins: Guehi is back with us but looks groggy to say the least. A cross scoots through the Palace box and Mitchell hoofs clear.
50 mins: Palace long throw into the box and Silva makes a crucial block to deny Eze. The loose ball fall to Wharton, who hits an absolute rocket. Guehi gets in the way and is poleaxed on the floor.
49 mins: Doku, who scored City’s consolation in their defeat to Manchester United in this fixture last season, curls a shot just over. Guardiola’s men have flown out of the blocks after halftime.
47 mins: City need more from their wingers this half and now Savinho gets to the byline. Low delivery but it’s cleared with Haaland on his heels.
46 mins: City right back onto the front foot and Doku clatters a shot into the goalmouth that’s blocked.
Kickoff: 2nd Half
Off we go again. Decent cup final, this.
Halftime
Crystal Palace are 45 minutes away from glory. City, with their very attacking lineup have controlled the majority of the play and Henderson, who has been at the centre of a few flashpoints, saved a penalty from Omar Marmoush. Prior to that Eberechi Eze scored to crown a glorious Palace counter-attack. A threat you sense will remain there all afternnon.
45 mins: Three minutes to be added on. Mateta down for the second time in a short period of time. It looks more like his on the wind-up rather than it being anything for Palace fans to worry about, though.
43 mins: Doku darting in from the left, fabulous save by Henderson with a strong left hand. Chaos as the rebound bounces down for De Bruyne…over!
41 mins: Dias lets one bounce and gets into an almighty tangle with Mateta. City manage to scramble away but they’re so susceptible to that one straight ball to Metata, who is a relentless nuisance.
35 mins: HENDERSON SAVES FROM MARMOUSH!!!! Haaland gives up the job after some mishaps this season and Marmoush steps up. Fires to Henderson’s right but it’s a nice height and the Palace keeper guessed correctly.
SAVED BY HENDERSON 🚫
Omar Marmoush misses from the spot ❌#FACup pic.twitter.com/PfvBowkW6V
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 17, 2025
Omar Marmoush took the pen instead of Haaland to potentially equalize the FA Cup final and it was saved 😮 pic.twitter.com/3a0kx3udEP
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 17, 2025
33 mins: PENALTY TO MANCHESTER CITY! Silva scoots into the box, Mitchell goes to ground. It looks an obvious spot kick. Attwell waits a while and points to the spot. Haaland to take, oh… or is it?
31 mins: Doku goes bustling into the Palace box but is crowded out and Henderson gathers. Aside from the Palace keeper’s early mishap, City haven’t really threatened since going behind.
28 mins: Scramble in the City box, Wharton fires a shot into the turf and Haaland thrusts out a telescopic leg to clear.
25 mins: It’s an escape for Henderson. He got a glove in when he challenged with Haaland and VAR checked to see if he’d done so outside of the area. If he had that was a red card. The Palace goalkeeper survives his trial by video.
24 mins: Haaland steals in to get to a long ball before Henderson that he had no right to reach. He’s driven wide, Marmoush screaming for the pass gets it, dallies and is tackled.
20 mins: Could have been two for the Eagles! Gvardiol botches a clearance to Eze. He finds Munoz, who’s delivery finds Sarr at the near post. Ortega saves and then smothers.
19 mins: So, this is the fourth time this season Crystal Palace have led a game against Manchester City this season. Can they make this one stick?
16 mins: GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!! Eberechi Eze!!!!!!!
Palace have lift-off at Wembley. Absolute bedlam away to my right. It’s a beautifully constructed counter-attack, with Mateta involved. Munoz’s cross in on the money and Eze muscles Akanji out of the way to fire home.
Available in the UK
EZE!!!!
CRYSTAL PALACE ARE IN FRONT AT WEMBLEY 🔥#FACup pic.twitter.com/cEw7voYVwK
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 17, 2025
EZE OPENS THE SCORING FOR PALACE VS. MAN CITY IN THE FA CUP FINAL!
AN INCREDIBLE TEAM GOAL 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tSWPUgsEhy
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 17, 2025
14 mins: Dangerous ball from Silva swinging towards Marmoush at the far post. Cleared behind for a another City corner. Akanji gets to this one and contorts himself to head onto the roof of the net.
13 mins: Savinho’s duel with Mitchell could be key here. This time the Brazilian sizes up his marker, tries a trick and slips onto his backside. Palace goal kick.
12 mins: Savinho with the latest City corner from the right, in-swinging. Gvardiol gets up to force the save from Henderson, but it was a comfortable enough height.
8 mins: Henderson will have another corner to face up to after he collected a lofted ball and fell over the byline. Palace scramble clear eventually but it’s all City so far.
7 mins: De Bruyne’s resulting corner doesn’t cause Palace undue problems.
6 mins: Change for Haaland! Savinho hustles some change out of Mitchell and sets the ball back on the right for De Bruyne to cross. Haaland stretches on the volley at the far post and Henderson gets down to save.
5 mins: City have pegged Palace in with all their attacking options, Savinho and Doku holding the width and De Bruyne directing traffic. There’s the danger, though, as Eze seizes on a slack pass and Savinho has to bring him down to stop the counter.
1 min: Oh my, Savino and Haaland looked like they were away on the break then but referee Attwell brought play back for a foul on Gvardiol. In fairness to the official, that looked like a blow to the head so he had no choice. Gvardiol is fine.
Kickoff: 1st Half
Eberechi Eze gets us underway. Palace with a wall of red and blue noise behind them.
5 mins before kickoff: The teams are out. This is just a glorious cup final scene. Blue skies, sunshine, huge fireworks, sound, colour. You can’t beat it. National anthem and assorted plesantries and we’ll be ready to go.
30 mins before kickoff: Another curiosity in the City matchday squad is the absence of Rico Lewis and James McAtee. Lewis opened the scoring and impressed in the semifinal win over Nottingham Forest on this ground, while McAtee has been quietly impressive during City’s upturn in form since the March international break. They’re watching on and Victor Reis and Claudio Echeverri are among the substitutes. Reis has played one minute of Premier League football since joining City in January, which is one more than Argentina youth star Echeverri.
45 mins before kickoff: The Palace team, by contrast, is exactly what you’d expect. Adam Wharton has been passed fit to start in central midfield, where he might end up with quite a bit of room. But it’s also the XI Guardiola will have expected and his City line-up suggests he’s spotted something. Will that prove to be the case or will an unfamiliar City side find themselves measuring up to a very well-grooved Palace squad and face the consequences?
Your Palace XI for the @EmiratesFACup Final 🦅🙌#CPFC
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) May 17, 2025
1 hour before kickoff: Hahaha, what was I on about? The teams are in and Pep Guardiola has picked what looks like a very attacking Manchester City XI. In shades of his famously rogue team for the 2021 Champions League final defeat to Chelsea, there doesn’t appear to be a holding midfielder of any description. Bernardo Silva will probably do that as best he can as Mateo Kovacic isn’t fit. Kevin De Bruyne. Omar Marmoush, Jeremy Doku and Savinho all start in support of Erling Haaland. Woof!
Pep Guardiola trophies won as manager: List of titles with Manchester City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich
1 hr 30 mins before kickoff: Team news will be with us in around half an hour. Has Pep Guardiola got one of his customary final surprises in store for us? It’d edge towards saying not, given the City side has been fairly settled since the March international break, although reintegrating Erling Haaland post-injury perhaps lays a platform for something a bit left-field. It feels fairly certain that Kevin De Bruyne will start his last major final for City.
Palace’s fast-breaking 3-4-3 and the front three of Eberechi Eze, Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta appears to pick itself. Oliver Glasner’s men have scored four times against City this season, with the catch being that they’ve conceded seven. This one could be a thriller for the neutral.
2 hours before kickoff. Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of the 144th FA Cup final, live from Wembley. Will Manchester City win their eight crown after reaching a third final in as many years, or will a vibrant Crystal Palace side make history with their first ever major honour? It should be fun finding out.
Crystal Palace vs. Man City kick off time
The FA Cup final kicks off in London at 4:30 p.m. local time.
Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA | Sat, May 17 | 11:30 p.m. ET |
| Canada | Sat, May 17 | 11:30 p.m. ET |
| UK | Sat, May 17 | 4:30 p.m. BST |
| Australia | Sun, May 18 | 2:30 a.m. AEDT |
| India | Sat, May 17 | 10:00 p.m. IST |
Crystal Palace vs. Man City lineups, team news
Adam Wharton —sporadically a reported target for City — was Palace’s main injury doubt heading into the weekend but the England international is fit to start alongside Daichi Kamada.
Elsewhere, Palace are close to full strength. Eberechi Eze and wing-backs Daniel Munoz and Tyrick Mitchell all caused City problems before the Eagles were brutally grounded at the Etihad Stadium last month.
Glasner confessed he made a mistake by substituting Jean-Phillipe Mateta and not replacing him with a specialist centre-forward at halftime in Manchester. Mateta scored home and away against City last season.
Crystal Palace (3-4-3, right to left): Henderson (GK) — Richards, Lacroix, Guehi — Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell — Sarr, Mateta, Eze
Crystal Palace subs: Turner (GK), Ward, Lerma, Nketiah, Clyne, Hughes, Esse, Chilwell, Devenny
After City beat Palace 5-2 at the Etihad Stadium last month, Glasner boldy told Guardiola that he would have to change his tactics should they meet in the cup final, as he would have better solutions next time.
Guardiola has responded by picking a remarkably attacking lineup that does not have a natural holding midfield, giving echoes of his 2021 Champions League semifinal faux pas.
Omar Marmoush rested up against Southampton and returns to support Erling Haaland. Departing club great Kevin De Bruyne and wingers Savinho and Jeremy Doku all start.
Nico O’Reilly, who has excelled for City in this competition as part of a breakthrough season, returns at left-back.
Man City (4-1-4-1, right to left): Ortega (GK) — Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly — Silva — Savinho, De Bruyne, Marmoush, Doku — Haaland
Man City subs: Ederson (GK), Grealish, Nico, Gundogan, Reis, Nunes, Echeverri, Khusanov, Foden
Crystal Palace vs. Man City live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch the 144th FA Cup final across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
| TV channel | Streaming | |
| USA | — | ESPN+ |
| Canada | — | Sportsnet |
| UK | BBC One, ITV | BBC iPlayer, ITV X |
| Australia | — | Optus Sport |
| India | — | JioTV, Sony LIV |
