Category Sports News

The moment Crystal Palace emerged from a crisis that threatened to overtake manager Oliver Glasner, and it was their greatest day and the highlight of their FA Cup victory over Manchester City.

In the Wembley sunshine, Palace celebrated their first major success in their history with a victory over Tottenham in their ninth game on October 27, making their worst start to a season since 1992-1993.

This was the only justification for chairman Steve Parish and the Selhurst Park hierarchy to keep their nerve as the 50-year-old Austrian gathered around the chant “Glad All Over” as Glasner and his triumphant Palace side celebrated in front of their ecstatic support.

After saying during those troubled times in October, “It’s time to hug my players, not kick them,” it was also vindication of Glasner’s own approach.

At Wembley, Palace paraded the FA Cup, the crowning glory of Glasner’s recovery, in brilliant execution by his players, and there was plenty of hugs going on.

When history was made, Glasner reacted calmly and measuredly as he marched over to Pep Guardiola, a lost city rival.

When Jurgen Klopp won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022, Glasner’s intensity and positive attitude drew comparisons to those qualities.

When Glasner and Palace struggled to win the first game of the season, it was effective.

When Palace’s first eight games of the season ended with just three points, Glasner never lost faith in himself. He never lost faith in Palace’s players, which is even more impressive.

After finishing the previous campaign with 19 points out of a possible 21, he thought Palace’s slow start was due to real causes.

After Palace lost arguably their most gifted forward to Bayern Munich in a £50m deal, this meticulous and strict person was overseeing a major change. Joachim Andersen, a key defender, left for £30 million with Fulham.

Eddie Nketiah joined Arsenal for £30 million, but he had not practiced, and his squad’s other key components were lacking.

At Euro 2024, Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton, Marc Guehi, and goalkeeper Dean Henderson were with England, and Jean-Philippe Mateta was an Olympic finalist for France. Colombia and Jefferson Lerma attended the Copa America with Daniel Munoz and Jefferson Lerma.

Glasner was confident that Palace would be a force once they were back up, but he also had to take into account four deadline-day signings, including Matt Turner from Nottingham Forest, Maxence Lacroix from Wolfsburg, and Trevoh Chalobah, who is currently on loan from Chelsea.

Parish insists that because of his efforts and upbeat personality on the training ground, Glasner’s position was never in doubt. The payback for that display of faith comes today, when a new chapter of Palace’s history is written.

Eze, Ismaila Sarr, and Mateta, the attacking trio, are spearhead and focal point, while the others are stumbling and in danger.

In other areas, Palace have strengths, with Pedro Porro and Sergio Munoz scoring the most assists of any Premier League defender in 2024-25, with six goals and seven assists, the highest total of any defender for any Premier League team this year.

Even though Palace lost influential captain Guehi after 61 minutes at Wembley following a head injury, the Eagles’ back three of Chris Richards, Lacroix, and Guehi have been solid.

And Palace also has an X-factor, which is crucial on big events when margins are good.

Throughout the FA Cup campaign, Glasner’s big players, who he believed would recover from that early-season slump, have delivered and defeated City once more.

Eze’s sharp 16th-minute strike ended a classic Palace counter-attack with a deft finish past City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

The decisive moment was set for Palace’s first shot and first touch inside the penalty box, but with such a sparse and ruthless stance came.

The talented forward helped Palace advance to the quarter-finals of Fulham, the quarter-final, and the semi-final at Wembley for Aston Villa.

Henderson has also decorated Palace’s success, first as a villain against Villa and then as both a hero and villain.

Henderson only made a mistake when he stumbling over a long ball from Erling Haaland and getting too close to Josko Gvardiol’s goal when the video assistant referee determined the city’s striker had been moving away from goal and had been given a clear chance to score.

Henderson was flawless in both this incident, saving from Jeremy Doku, Gvardiol, and Jeremy Doku in the opening half, before City’s late substitute Claudio Echeverri.

While the keeper may have to go through some lengths to justify the chants “England’s number one” from Palace fans, England head coach Thomas Tuchel, who is a fan of Henderson, was watching, there is no doubt he has strengthened his claims.

Palace has no issues with this. Everyone who was involved in this was filled with joy, especially the supporters who were so passionately and loudly supporting the Eagles and were desperate to end the heartache of their FA Cup final defeats against Manchester United in 1990 and 2016!

Before Palace made this FA Cup run, Glasner’s three previous Wembley appearances included a Taylor Swift concert and a visit to England twice.

After a comprehensive 3-0 win over Villa in the semi-final, he has now made his own Wembley memories, with Palace fans chanting their entire victory playlist as soon as referee Stuart Attwell signaled the end of 10 tortuous extra-time.

Before the FA Cup final, Glasner warned against talking about history until the hen had laid the egg.

When laid, the egg was golden.

Rugby World Cup:

Leinster: (7) 13

Try: J O’Brien Con: Prendergast Pens: Frawley, Prendergast

Glasgow: (0) 5

Leinster’s hard-fought 13-5 victory over the Glasgow Warriors at Aviva Stadium marked the end of their United Rugby Championship (URC) regular season.

After being denied a try earlier in the match, Jimmy O’Brien scored the only try for Leo Cullen’s side in the first 26 minutes.

After the visitors responded with George Horne’s try, Sam Prendergast’s penalty extended the lead, but Ciaran Frawley’s late penalty secured the win.

Following the Welsh side’s disappointing defeat against the Sharks on Saturday, Leinster will now face the Scarlets in the quarter-finals on Saturday, May 31 (15:00 BST).

Sione Tuipulotu, a centre for Scotland, returned from injury after a long absence from the team, who enjoyed the majority of the ground in the Aviva Stadium’s opening period without really putting a strain on.

With Adam Hastings’ penalty kick wide, they wasted a good chance to take the lead on nine minutes.

O’Brien believed he had scored the opening try in Leinster’s first real attack after 21 minutes.

O’Brien gathered and scored as a result of Prendergast’s quick penalty, which was disallowed because Prendergast was too far ahead of the penalty’s recipient.

Five minutes later, however, O’Brien was not denied as Glasgow conceded a free-kick at the scrum, and Fintan Gunne chose to tap and go, handing the ball to Jordie Barrett, who later found Prendergast.

Tuipulotu was replaced at half-time as he recovers from a stellar performance.

After the restart, Cullen’s side were sloppy and had a number of accuracy errors, but they did advance even further thanks to a Prendergast penalty.

After Sebastian Cancelliere had poked the ball through him, but Hastings missed the conversion, Glasgow responded with their first points of the evening when substitute Horne grounded the ball.

After Glasgow were found guilty of offside, Leinster replacement Frawley kicked a late penalty to ensure the victory.

Keenan, T O’Brien, Henshaw, Barrett, J O’Brien, Prendergast, Gunne, Porter, Sheehan, Clarkson, Snyman, Ryan, Baird, Penny, Conan (capt.), Leinster Rugby.

Replacements: Boyle, Furlong, Mangan, Deegan, McGrath, Frawley, Osborne, Boyle, Boyle, Boyle.

Rowe, Cancelliere, Jones, Tuipulotu, Steyn, Hastings, Afshar, Bhatti, Stephen Richardson, Oguntibeju, Samuel, Duncan, Duncan, Darge, Ferrie, and others are the Glasgow Warriors.

Hiddleston, McBeth, Walker, Du Preez, Cummings, McDowall, Horne, Jordan, and others.

Marcus Rashford, who has been linked with a move to Barcelona, is happy to accept a pay cut, while AC Milan turned down a bid from Manchester City for Tijjani Reijnders, and Arsenal prepared for Jakub Kiwior.

Marcus Rashford, 27, a striker for Manchester United and England, is willing to lower his wage demands to sign for Barcelona this summer. (Mundo Deportivo, Spanish)

In the first instance, Barcelona wants to sign Rashford on loan with a purchase option from Manchester United. (Sports) in Spanish

Napoli will target 25-year-old Jakub Kiwior from Arsenal and Poland in the summer, but the Serie A champions want to lower their asking price to £30 million. (Calciomercato – Italian)

Even if Tottenham loses the Europa League final, Manchester United won’t fire manager Ruben Amorim. (Mirror)

Florian Wirtz, 22, and AC Milan and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, 26, are both expected to make an $ 178 million double deal with Manchester City. (Mirror)

Reijnders’ offer of £50.4 million has been rejected by AC Milan. (Teamtalk)

Right-back Jeremie Frimpong, 24, has signed a five-year deal with Liverpool from Netherlands under the leadership of Bayer Leverkusen. (Talksport)

Due to his connections to Premier League and La Liga clubs, Germany winger Leroy Sane, 29, turned down an offer to renew his contract with Bayern Munich. (Sky Germany – in German)

Emiliano Martinez, an Argentine international who has received offers from Saudi Arabia and two European clubs, appears to be on his way out of the club. (Spanish: Mundo Albiceleste)

Martinez and his family live in Birmingham, but Martinez wants to relocate to win more championships. (Ole – in Spanish)

Caoimhin Kelleher’s potential replacement for Martinez is being considered by Aston Villa, but the 26-year-old Republic of Ireland goalkeeper faces competition from Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Bournemouth. (The I)

Joan Garcia, 24, a Spanish goalkeeper for Espanyol, has aston Villa’s interest. (Romano-Fabrizio)

A right winger, forward, and goalkeeper are high on manager Eddie Howe’s wish list, and Newcastle United are willing to spend £150m on them this summer. (Newcastle Chronicle)

Vinicius Jr., 24, who is believed to be on the table with an offer of 210 million euros, is a target for a number of Saudi Arabian clubs. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Wembley Stadium will make Erling Haaland sick, in addition.

The Norway striker chose to pass on the opportunity during Manchester City’s FA Cup final defeat against Crystal Palace on Saturday, but he did so at the national stadium.

With the ball firmly tucked under his arm and a penalty spot chance, Haaland surprised both the arena’s visitors and those watching away by kissing and handing it to Omar Marmoush, who saw his spot-kick saved by Dean Henderson.

Pep Guardiola, the city manager, said, “I thought he would want to take it, but they didn’t speak.”

“It’s the feeling and how they feel,” the sentence reads. Omar was shown to be willing to accept it by them.

Omar was pressured to make a good save because the ball was stopped frequently, which added pressure on Henderson.

Wayne Rooney, the ex-Manchester United captain, said there is no way they are giving that ball away when they are comparing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He said: “Erling Haaland is a world-class forward, but when we are talking about that, we are giving that ball away.

“These players are different from Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe,” according to the statement. They want to score every game because they are selfish.

I believe you can see it when he misses chances, and it has an impact on him.

In his first season in England, Haaland plagiarized 52 goals in 53 games to earn a record-breaking Champions League, Premier League, and FA Cup titles.

After being defeated by Manchester United last year, he and his team now lost in back-to-back finals at Wembley.

Haaland described this season as “horrific” in an interview with BBC Sport this week, but claimed City had the chance to make amends by winning silverware against Palace.

They omitted to do so.

Haaland has scored 30 goals despite missing significant amounts of time this season due to injury, despite his unmatched goalscoring exploits since arriving on these shores.

He has now lost eight of his final eight games for City, extending his run of six games without finding the net at Wembley.

There is no way anyone is telling me, “You’re not taking a penalty today if we get a penalty,” said former England captain Alan Shearer.

You’re fit, you’re out on the pitch, and you should be game for taking the penalty, regardless of whether he’s missed three games in a row or has been out injured.

I find it hard to believe that he turned around and said, “You take the penalty because I don’t really like it.”

Former City defender Micah Richards remarked, “I know Erling Haaland’s record at Wembley is not very good, but for him not to take the penalty… he is typically so confident and haughty.”

Henderson remarked, “Haaland might have stepped up; I wasn’t sure where to go.

Palace hit them on the break as Eberechi Eze swept home the goal in the 16th minute, which gave City the lead in the first half, and Haaland had a hooked effort that was clawed out by the inspired Henderson.

The defeated opponents’ players waited for the opposition to lift the trophy before leaving with their heads bowed down the tunnel to show their respect for Palace.

Haaland, however, was likely to have been thinking about how this season had turned out so badly while his medal from winning the game was hurling his neck.

The striker had little to cheer about after winning the first major trophy in the club’s history, and Haaland’s neighbors celebrated Norway’s national day.

The departing Kevin de Bruyne, who had a glittering career at City, had to change his midfield for the better, while Argentine teenager Claudio Echeverri made his debut in the second half.

Richards remarked, “Manchester City has suffered a tremendous disappointment this season.

Pep Guardiola has mentioned that throughout the season. The players haven’t kept up the standards they’ve established.

“For City, we are looking at a rebuild, which everyone will be able to see, despite the fact that they did really well at times today.”

“We didn’t score, so congratulations to Crystal Palace for the victory,” Guardiola said.

We were more aggressive today. You won’t win if you can’t score goals.

The Bee Gees’ “Classic Stayin Alive” was pumped out over the speakers as the ticker tape rained down.

The rain prevented the Indian Premier League’s return from suspension, which ended the match between Bengaluru’s Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders.

After being suspended for a week because of tensions between India and Pakistan centered on Kashmir, the game in Bengaluru was scheduled to mark its return.

After Virat Kohli, the home team’s hero, made the announcement to retire from test cricket last week, there were many fans at M Chinnaswamy Stadium wearing cricket whites.

However, the persistent rain forced them to cover up, with neither party gaining any compensation for the failure.

Kolkata, the reigning champions, will now have to win both of their remaining games to advance, meaning they must now no longer qualify for the end-of-season play-offs.

Meanwhile, RCB is now top of the table with 17 points and has now advanced to the play-offs.