A delighted Oliver Glasner hailed Crystal Palace giving fans “a moment for their life” after Saturday’s historic 1-0 FA Cup win over Manchester City that gave the 119-year-old club a first major trophy, while Pep Guardiola refused to address the controversy over a potential red card for Dean Henderson.
Eberechi Eze’s 16th-minute volley proved Palace’s winner as Glasner’s side sealed the triumph by seeing out 10 minutes of added time at Wembley, leaving the manager delighted. He said: “As football players or managers our biggest achievement is to give the fans a moment for their lives. We had a difficult start to the season [winning none of the first eight league games] – in difficult moments you need someone who hugs, not kicks you, so this is for the fans. The connection with the Crystal Palace players will stay for ever.”
Glasner was asked to compare the Cup victory to winning the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022. “It’s difficult to compare … no one expected Palace or Frankfurt to win. I can’t believe it. We had to defend so much. The spirit and togetherness on the pitch was amazing.”
Palace host Wolves in their penultimate league game on Tuesday but Glasner said: “Tomorrow’s training is already cancelled. The players want to cancel Monday too. Special credit to the players, they’ve never lost belief in me and the coaching staff.
“If you play this game 10 times, we win it once and that happened today. We scored the first time we were in their half and then we defended with every single phase of the body and a great goalkeeper, a great mentality and togetherness. I’m really proud of the team and the staff – congratulations, all the credit goes to them.”
Henderson turned away Omar Marmoush’s 36th-minute penalty and impressed with a number of other vital saves. But he might have been sent off before repelling the spot-kick if the video assistant referees, Jarred Gillett and Michael Salisbury, had ruled that his handball as Erling Haaland ran through was an obvious goalscoring opportunity and sent Stuart Attwell to the screen for a review.
Guardiola refused to criticise the decision of Attwell or his video assistants. “I am not a referee,” City’s manager said. “Ask the referee or the VAR.”
Glasner was asked about Henderson’s handball. “I thought: ‘Why did you not kick it?” the Austrian said.
After the final whistle, Guardiola appeared to have a disagreement with a celebrating Henderson. The City manager was asked if this was about the Palace goalkeeper’s time-wasting.
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“Listen, he defended his position, we defend our position,” he said. “I understand in the last minutes [to do this]. Everyone can do what they want. You have to score goals. We didn’t lose because Henderson was time-wasting. They gave nine or 10 minutes extra time, but it’s also the rhythm [when this is broken up]. In my teams I never tried, because I try to play the game the people deserve to watch. Saying that, congratulations to Henderson and Palace because they defended really well and we were not able to score a goal.”
Henderson dedicated the triumph to his deceased father, Dougie. “I lost my dad at the start of the season, but he was with me today. He was with me every kick of the game. I dedicate that win to him.”
The Palace keeper was surprised that Marmoush took the penalty, not Haaland. “Haaland might have stepped up. He gave it to Marmoush and I knew which way he was going. I knew I would save it.”
Guardiola was asked about Marmoush taking it. “I thought he would want to take it but these are things for them,” said the 54-year-old. “They decided Omar was ready to take it.”
