Football
Crystal Palace Reach The FA Cup Final! Goals From Eberechi Eze And Ismaila Sarr Complete Stunning 3-0 Win Over Aston Villa
After graduating from Kingston University with an upper second-class Honours degree, I learned the ropes in sports journalism starting at Sports Mole before making my way through the ranks at the MailOnline. I started initially as a freelancer before going on to become an assistant sports editor in seven years at the company. Love football, cursed by Spurs and you can catch me watching/falling asleep to the F1 while hungover on a Sunday.
Get to know Sam McEvoy betterPublished26 Apr 2025
Crystal Palace have booked their spot in this year’s FA Cup final after beating high-flyers Aston Villa 3-0 in their semi-final at Wembley on Saturday – and you can watch the highlights below.
The Eagles will meet Nottingham Forest or Manchester City in the May 17 showpiece, with the other semi-final being played on Sunday.
Crystal Palace Book Their Spot In The FA Cup Final After Beating Aston Villa
As Palace came into this FA Cup semi-final meeting with Aston Villa as the underdogs, they proved on the day that they shouldn’t be under-estimated.
Especially with the talent in their squad, moments of magic can prove decisive.
That’s what it took just after the half-hour mark when Eberechi Eze scored a brilliant long-range effort from outside the box, being teed up by Ismaila Sarr to send the red and blue section of Wembley into raptures.
Villa had chances of their own in the first half, but struggled to break down Oliver Glasner’s side.
After the break, the Eagles were in the ascendency. They had the chance to double their lead from the penalty spot after Eze was felled in the area.
But with penalty-saving merchant Emiliano Martinez in Villa’s net, it seemed the pressure was on Mateta to score, rather than Martinez to save.
And that pressure seemed to get to Palace’s striker, who clipped the outside of the post and squandering a glorious chance to double the lead.
But the miss didn’t matter.
With a man of the match performance, Sarr made it 2-0 four minutes after with a stunning goal. After a brilliant run, Sarr beat Martinez with an arrowed right-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Then, in injury time, Sarr struck again.
Put through on goal, the rapid Senegalese forward had just Martinez to beat once again and he done so with confidence.
A stunning performance for the Eagles caps off one of the club’s best days in recent history – now they’ll be hoping to trump that when they return to the home of football next month.
Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa – FA Cup Semi-Final Highlights
When Was The Last Time Crystal Palace Were In The FA Cup Final?
The last time Palace played under the arch in the FA Cup final was in 2016.
They met Manchester United in that final, where they forced Louis van Gaal’s side to extra-time with the game finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes.
But Jesse Lingard’s strike in extra-time prevented the Eagles from winning the trophy on that occasion.
Crystal Palace reach the FA Cup final for the third time in their history 🏟️
1990 ➡️ 2016 ➡️ 2025
Third time lucky? 🏆👀 pic.twitter.com/Gp4EYga0xB
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 26, 2025
They also reached the FA Cup final in 1990, meeting United once again, with the game finishing 3-3 after extra-time. United won the replay.
Now the Eagles have the chance to win their first major trophy in the 2025 FA Cup final next month.