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Dean Henderson said he knew which way Omar Marmoush was going to put his penalty in the FA Cup final.

Maybe it was down to his preparation.

Maybe it was down to his years as an outfielder in Carlisle’s academy.

Maybe it was down to his time at Shrewsbury for whom he saved a spot-kick in a Wembley play-off final.

Whatever it was, Henderson produced an FA Cup-final performance for the ages – surviving a video assistant referee (VAR) red-card check, stopping a penalty, and pulling off a hatful of top saves to help Crystal Palace win their first ever major trophy.

It is the peak of the 28-year-old’s career.

Henderson was born in Whitehaven, a town of about 25,000 people on the north-west coast 40 miles from Carlisle.

Growing up his two brothers, one of them six years older and the other a year his senior, would take shots at him in the garden.

But it was as an outfielder he was initially scouted by Carlisle United at eight years old.

“At around under-11s the goalkeeper didn’t show up for one of the games,” said former Carlisle Under-15s assistant coach David Hughes.

“He just jumped in goal and took the spot. From there it just rolled. He was clearly a natural.”

Eventually settling between the sticks, Henderson and his dad would make the two-and-a-half-hour round trip to Carlisle’s academy up to five times a week.

At 14 he was playing with the age group above. In the summer he would train alongside Carlisle’s first-team goalkeepers.

“He was technically the best player at the club and everybody was aware of who he was. Newcastle were after him at that point,” added Hughes.

“He was small, he was undersized. We were just waiting for him to hit that growth spurt to go to the next level.

A childhood Manchester United fan, Henderson secured his dream move to the Old Trafford club’s academy aged 14, though it meant he had to move away from his family and live in accommodation organised by the club.

He had two short loan spells at Stockport County and Grimsby Town, but it was at League One Shrewsbury in 2017, aged 20, when he first made his name.

“He was quite a flamboyant character, loved by the home fans and had a knack of winding up the away supporters,” said BBC Radio Shropshire sports presenter Nick Southall.

“He was self-confident, yes, but he didn’t have any sort of ego. He took to life at Shrewsbury. Moving from Manchester maybe with his own upbringing he felt more at home with a slower, more rural life.

“He was somebody that everybody warmed to. He was very prolific on social media at the time and did a lot of work with the Shrewsbury foundation.

“He was as good as Joe Hart and he seemed to thrive off fans’ energy – especially at Wembley.”

Despite Shrewsbury’s small budget, the club reached both the EFL Trophy and League One play-off finals in 2017-18.

In Shrewsbury’s 1-0 cup final defeat by Lincoln, Henderson was at the centre of a controversial moment when he was struck by the elbow of striker Matt Rhead, who narrowly escaped a red card.

In the play-off final at Wembley – which Shrewsbury lost 2-1 to Rotherham – Henderson saved David Ball’s first-half penalty.

It was at the same end and struck towards the same side as Marmoush’s spot-kick on Saturday.

“It was written in the stars,” added Southall.

After Shrewsbury, Henderson spent two seasons on loan at Sheffield United, helping them to promotion from the Championship and a ninth-place Premier League finish.

Impressed with his success at Bramall Lane, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made him part of the 2020-21 first-team squad.

At the time Henderson appeared set to become the next number one at Old Trafford. He made his senior England debut against the Republic of Ireland in November 2020, and started 10 of United’s final 12 Premier League games that season.

“There was a growing feeling De Gea would be moved on that summer,” said BBC Sport’s chief football news reporter Simon Stone.

“Henderson thought he had been promised he would become United’s number one in 2021-22.

“Solskjaer never said so publicly so no-one knew what the situation was, and then Henderson caught Covid-19 a week or so before the next season started.

“The virus lingered for a while, by which time De Gea had started the season, had done well in a winning team and kept his place.

“It all unravelled in the space of five Premier League games in a month. De Gea played in them all but Solskjaer got sacked and first Michael Carrick, then Ralf Rangnick, chose the Spaniard over Henderson.”

Desperate for more first-team action Henderson went on loan to Nottingham Forest in July 2022. Just over a year later he was allowed to join Crystal Palace permanently, on a five-year deal worth up to £20m.

“New United manager Erik ten Hag made it pretty clear that ultimately he wanted Andre Onana as his first-choice keeper so there was never any chance Henderson would stay as he felt he should be number one,” added Stone.

And what about his time at Selhurst Park?

“When Palace brought in Dean Henderson, there was some surprise amongst fans,” said BBC Sport football news reporter Alex Howell.

“The transfer fee in the region of £20m seemed to be high, especially when the Eagles had Sam Johnstone on the books who at the time was playing his way into the England set-up as Jordan Pickford’s number two.”

Last season a thigh injury kept Henderson out for two months, and he was briefly dropped after a 3-1 defeat by Chelsea halfway through the campaign.

He won back his place though, and last summer Johnstone was transferred to Wolves, with Henderson given the vacant number one jersey.

“His passion and character has endeared him to Palace fans and they now sing that he’s England’s number one,” added Howell.

“He started the Nations League game against Finland for England under Lee Carsley in October.

The Scottish FA posted a record-breaking turnover of £78.72 million last year as a result of their participation in Euro 2024.

Pre-tax profit increased by £21.6 million to £7.41 million, up from £2.05 million the previous year, and the figure is up by £21.6 million.

Additionally, the SFA has contributed £5 million to expanding facilities across the nation from Grassroots Facilities Funding and the Scottish Government Extra Time initiative.

There were lists for £16.23 million (reserves) and £18.1 million (cash) for both the bank and in-hand accounts.

According to the accounts, the increase in revenues and profits is “mostly related to the revenue derived from the Uefa Euro 2024 finals tournament.”

Steve Clarke’s men’s team faced hosts Germany, Switzerland, and Hungary for the second consecutive men’s European Championship appearance.

In their second match, the Scots drew with the Swiss after losing to the Hungarians and Germans.

Scotland women made it to the Euro 2025 play-offs last year, but after losing to Hungary, they lost to Finland and didn’t make the finals, with Pedro Martinez Losa, head coach, soon to follow.

After his final game at home against Bournemouth on Tuesday, departing midfielder Kevin de Bruyne will be presented with a farewell from Manchester City.

The Belgian international made the announcement last month that he would leave City when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Since moving to Bundesliga club Wolfsburg in 2015, the 33-year-old has won 16 titles, including six Premier League titles and the 2023 Champions League.

De Bruyne, however, missed the chance to complete his City career with a perfect result in their FA Cup defeat against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

De Bruyne will start against Bournemouth, according to manager Pep Guardiola, who did not say whether De Bruyne would start. His incredible trajectory deserves the best compliment, in my opinion.

It would not have been possible without Sheikh Mansour taking the club to a higher level because of what he has accomplished with other legendary players.

He will be given a guard of honor from team-mates at full-time during the final game at Etihad Stadium.

De Bruyne will make a brief speech on the field before evoking his gratitude with the other players as they receive gifts from their late club legend, Colin Bell, and then take them on a lap of applause.

De Bruyne’s final game for the club is likely to be against Fulham on Sunday (16:00 BST), which City will play to end their campaign.

Pep Guardiola has defended Manchester City’s trophyless season by saying they are only one of three English teams that could play in the Champions League next term to have claimed silverware.

City edged past rivals Manchester United on penalties in the Community Shield last August but have since endured a miserable campaign, relinquishing their four-year hold on the Premier League trophy and being knocked out early in the Champions League.

On Saturday, their season suffered another low as they were stunned by Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final at Wembley.

“Of course, it’s important to qualify, but except for Newcastle who won the Carabao Cup, Liverpool won the Premier League and Manchester City that won the Community Shield – the other teams didn’t win trophies,” Guardiola said.

“So the other teams like Chelsea, who can win one title [Europa Conference League] against Real Betis, and [Manchester] United and Tottenham can win the Europa League.

“All the other teams, they are expecting of course to qualify for the Champions League but this is important for every club that play this in competition next year.

“We played a really good [FA Cup] final, not enough to win it, and we have the last two games, we need four points to be in the Champions League next year and this is enough and everyone has to be aware of that.”

With Liverpool Premier League champions and Arsenal sealing second spot, City have a fight to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition and a fascinating race has developed for the top five, with third-placed Newcastle and Nottingham Forest in seventh separated by a solitary point.

Aside from the brilliance of Scottie Scheffler’s imperious third major victory, the next-biggest talking point from the 107th US PGA was the controversy of Rory McIlroy’s “non-conforming” driver.

Rumours emerged early in the championship that the recently crowned Masters winner, who was continually struggling to find Quail Hollow’s fairways, had been forced to switch drivers before the year’s second major.

Initially, there was speculation that the one he had used to such great effect in winning at Augusta had cracked on the eve of the tournament here in North Carolina.

But then came a bombshell when PGA Tour Radio reported that the club had failed its test of legality.

In response, a statement was issued on Saturday lunchtime during the third round from the PGA of America’s chief championships officer Kerry Haigh. It confirmed testing for about a third of the players had been carried out by the United States Golf Association (USGA)

“Finding driver heads that have crept over the line of conformance is not an unusual occurrence, especially for clubs that are hit thousands of times over a long period of time,” Haigh said.

“The results are kept confidential to protect players, who are unaware the club has fallen out of conformance,” he added. “To publicly identify players whose club did not conform can lead to that player being questioned unnecessarily.”

So, there were no names, no actual confirmation of any drivers failing the test and, in this case, little clarity as to what might have happened regarding the world number two.

Uncharacteristically, McIlroy ignored reporters after each of his rounds in an event where he only made the cut on the mark and finished three over par in a disappointing share of 47th place.

Observers were left with a vacuum, which was filled in some quarters with ill-informed and damaging speculation that might have called into question the validity of McIlroy’s Masters win.

Players, selected at random, subject their driver for testing before most big tournaments. As Haigh explained, repeated use of the club wears down its face which becomes more springy as a result.

This trampoline effect, which can add distance to drives, is known as the coefficient of restitution (COR), and there are strict rules on this to ensure drivers do not become, in effect, supercharged.

“It’s just an accepted thing that sometimes you might have to change driver, and within the golfing world nobody really bats an eye at it,” former Ryder Cup player Wilson added.

But, because testing results are treated with such secrecy, McIlroy’s situation gained traction as he toiled his way through his first major since winning the Masters.

Then came rumours that Scheffler had also fallen foul of wearing down the face of his driver and had been forced to switch clubs before his triumphant week. The champion happily confirmed this during his winner’s media conference.

“My driver did fail me this week,” said the 28-year-old after adding the PGA to his two Masters titles. “We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I’ve used that driver for over a year.

“I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long.”

While saying it “was no big deal”, the American did call for the regulations to be tightened.

“I would argue that if we’re going to test the drivers, we need to be even more robust in the way we test them,” he said.

“That was a conversation I had with one of the rules officials – if it’s something we’re going to take seriously I feel like we’re almost going halfway with it right now.”

Scheffler added: “It’s a newer rule that we haven’t quite gotten right yet. I think we have some stuff to figure out, get more robust and get even more strict.

The world number one is correct. Every player runs the risk of playing a club that is not legal yet only a third of the field are currently tested.

No-one is intentionally cheating, character should not be called into question. As Haigh’s statement pointed out: “Neither the USGA nor the PGA of America have any concerns about player intent.”

But, as we found out last week, if an adverse result is leaked – as was the case with McIlroy – controversy can ensue.

It is thought about eight drivers were found to have breached the rules last week, yet only the 36-year-old’s – and latterly Scheffler’s – became public knowledge.

This is the likely explanation for the Northern Irishman’s reticence to speak with reporters in his first major since completing the career Grand Slam.

That was his prerogative – no player is mandated to speak to the media but the end result here was that fans were not able to hear from one of the game’s superstars, which is an unsatisfactory outcome.

It is hard to fathom the need for such confidentiality. “I’m sure they have reasons,” Wilson told BBC Sport. “But I don’t think they’re strong enough.

Florian Wirtz, a midfielder for Bayer Leverkusen, is one of the most sought-after players in the game, and many people thought he would make a good Kevin de Bruyne replacement at Manchester City.

However, according to BBC Sport, Pep Guardiola’s side are no longer interested in the German international because any deal would cost so much.

The 22-year-old’s signature is thought to be the biggest deal in City’s history, potentially bringing in up to 300 million euros, including transfer fees and wages.

City are concerned that the price of the deal is exaggerated despite acknowledging that Wirtz is one of the best young footballers in Europe and has been linked with Liverpool and Bayern Munich.

City have previously demonstrated that they are willing to renounce a transfer if they think a deal is ineffective.

Due to the high transfer fee before acquiring Erling Haaland for £51.2 million in 2022, they also cooled their interest in then-Tottenham striker Harry Kane.

After previously agreeing to deals with Kalidou Koulibaly and Harry Maguire, City signed Ruben Dias in 2020.

In addition, Phil Foden’s involvement in Guardiola’s plans should be viewed as a commitment to the race to land Wirtz.

Foden has long been regarded as the long-term heir to De Bruyne, but Guardiola’s replacement may have been replaced by Wirtz, who is an Englishman.