Oliver Glasner dedicated Crystal Palace’s FA Cup triumph to the club’s fans – and said it would take time for Saturday’s historic Wembley win to sink in.
Palace beat Manchester City 1-0 to win the first major trophy in the club’s 120-year history and secure a place in Europe.
More than 30,000 fans of the South London club celebrated wildly inside the national stadium at full-time – and Glasner was quick to praise them for sticking with the team.
Palace failed to win any of their opening eight Premier League games this season and lost 5-2 at Manchester City and 5-0 at Newcastle in back-to-back Premier League games in April.
But they end the season with the FA Cup in the Selhurst Park trophy cabinet and Glasner, who steered Eintracht Frankfurt to Europa League glory in 2021-22, can start planning for another Europa League campaign.
“No one expected Frankfurt to win the Europa League and no one expected Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup,” said Glasner, who is the first Austrian manager to win the competition.
“You can see what you can get when you are patient.
“As football players and managers, the biggest success is not lifting the trophy. It’s giving tens of thousands of our fans a moment for their life. Giving them great times.
“Maybe they have some problems at home so just to make them happy… we did it for our fans.”
Asked about how he felt after becoming the first manager to deliver a major trophy for Palace, Glasner added: “For me, the strange thing is I feel empty.
“I will start to realise it tomorrow or Monday. The crazy thing is on Monday we have to think about the Wolves game on Tuesday.
“We said before the game that we wanted to write our own history and we have written a big chapter in our history, and next year we will do that again when we play in Europe.
“We have great characters, such a togetherness, a work ethic and a strong environment and atmosphere, and this is fundamental for achieving impossible things.”
Palace’s Dean Henderson played a significant role in his side’s win, saving Omar Marmoush’s first-half penalty though City argued the goalkeeper should have been sent off earlier when he handled outside his area under pressure from Erling Haaland.
Henderson paid a moving tribute to his late father after the match.
“I lost my dad at the start of the season, but he was with me today,” said the former Manchester United stopper, who made a string of fine saves to frustrate City.
“He was with me every kick of the game. I dedicate that win to him.
“We were incredible today. We had a feeling it would be our day. The manager got a game-plan and we executed it. We deserve this so much.”
Henderson was also rocked by the loss of his former Sheffield United team-mate George Baldock, whom he was close to, last October.
But he ends an eventful season, which includes making a first start for England, with an FA Cup winners’ medal.
Palace’s winning goal came from Eberechi Eze, who scored from Palace’s first meaningful attack of the game.
“This is special, I don’t even know what to say,” the England forward, who grew up in a Christian household, regularly going to church, said.
“Thank God. Only God could do this.
“Facing the team that’s been the best in the world for years, to show that type of spirit and energy.”
Speaking about the move that led to his winner – his fourth goal in this season’s FA Cup – Eze added: “I couldn’t breathe! City keep the ball so well, you have to work so hard to get anything from them. When you get in their box you have to make the chance count.”
Eze struggled to make a breakthrough before making it big.
He was rejected by a host of clubs including Arsenal, Fulham, Reading, Bristol City, Sunderland and Millwall before getting his big break at Queens Park Rangers.
He moved to Palace in 2020 and has since broken into the England team. Now Eze is an FA Cup winner.
“I’ve come a long way,” he told BBC Sport. “To be in this position now – it’s hard to use the right words here.”
