TOP FIVE: the greatest FA Cup finals of all time
TOP FIVE: the greatest FA Cup finals of all time English football’s showpiece fixture returns tomorrow when managerless Chelsea take on Manchester City in the 154th FA Cup final at Wembley, with European football potentially on the line for Callum McFarlane’s side. Not only that, but it could prove to be the perfect sendoff for Pep Guardiola, whose future at the seven-time winners in the competition has been rumored to nearing its end for several months while the Blues search for Liam Rosenior’s replacement. As with every FA Cup final, it is sure to be a memorable day for the eventual winners.
But the following finals will still have stuck in the memory long after the two sides do battle this afternoon. FromTheSpot discusses which ones they are. Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City (2024/25) We know, and we hear you.
But recency bias aside, last year’s final delivered one of the greatest stories in the history of the world’s most famous cup competition as Oliver Glasner brought home a first major trophy for the south London side. It was a textbook Palace goal that won it, too, as Eberechi Eze rounded off a flowing counter attack by meeting the pinpoint cross of marauding right-back Daniel Muñoz to seize the lead inside just 16 minutes. What was most impressive about Palace’s victory, though, was being able to keep out Guardiola and his team for so long.
This was a team that scored 17 goals on the way to the final, the most of any side and four more than the first-time winners. The rest, as they so often say, is history. The Eagles followed up their maiden FA Cup win with a Community Shield the following season, beating defending champions Liverpool 3-2 on penalties with the game tied at 2-2 after extra time.
Better yet, they could give Austrian head coach Glasner the best ending to his time at Selhurst Park by adding a third piece of silverware to their cabinet in two years with a victory over Rayo Vallecano in the Europa Conference League final later this month. The 2024/25 final turned the page onto an illustrious new chapter for Crystal Palace, one that’s still not at its end. Liverpool (p) 3-3 West Ham (2005/06) Martin Tyler’s words still reverberate in fans’ heads time and time again.
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