Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner’s eleven-word warning to Pep Guardiola that haunted Man City in FA Cup final
OLIVER GLASNER has revealed the eleven-word warning that he gave to Pep Guardiola after Crystal Palace were beaten 5-2 by Man City in the Premier League
The Austrian manager led Crystal Palace to their first major trophy in history with victory over Manchester City at Wembley.
Eberechi Eze netted a fantastic goal to give the Eagles the lead in the first half.
The South London outfit were able to nullify Man City for the remainder of the game to seal the win.
Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson was called into action, and he even saved a penalty from Omar Marmoush.
But as the game went on, it seemed less and less likely that the Citizens would find their way back into the tie.
Palace played Guardiola’s side at the Etihad back in April and raced into a two-goal lead.
However, City got the better of them as they were level by half time and finished 5-2 victors.
Glasner was paying attention though, and after that game boldly warned Guardiola over playing that system again.
Speaking after the FA Cup final, the manager admitted that he had issued his message to his opposite number.
He said: “I said to Pep, ‘If we meet again, you can’t play in this system because we will solve it’.”
Glasner did not lie as Palace deserved their victory on the Wembley pitch.
Guardiola had set his City team up in a 4-2-3-1 formation that day.
But at Wembley his team featured just three players – Nico O’Reilly, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol – playing in the same positions.
He had chanced the attacking personnel with Kevin de Bruyne dropped from the striker role and into midfield.
Erling Haaland was given the role of leading the line in the final but was well marshalled by Palace’s defence.
Guardiola also swapped both wingers from James McAtee and Omar Marmoush to Jeremy Doku and Savinho.
The Eagles did get fortunate as Henderson escaped a red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
The goalkeeper batted the ball away with his hand while outside of the box and stopped Haaland from getting through on goal.
After the game, he clashed with Guardiola over the ten minutes of added time.
The stopper could be seen showing his ten fingers up to the Spaniard, which was not appreciated as he made a beeline for the Palace star.
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CRYSTAL PALACE secured their first ever trophy with a famous FA Cup final victory over Manchester City.
The Eagles went into the match as underdogs but managed to nullify the former Treble winners with a spectacular defensive display.
And at the heart of it was goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who could have been sent off for handling the ball outside the box before making the most of his reprieve.
The goalkeeper went on to save a penalty from Omar Marmoush before producing a string of saves to keep Pep Guardiola’s men out.