End of 164-year wait for Palace, Inter Miami lose again, Ajax’s title choke

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Hello! Believe in fairytales. They do come true.

On the way:

🎉 Crystal Palace rock Wembley

😡 Messi stews as Miami wilt

😬 Ajax’s title choke

😮 Nerves-of-steel Panenka

Modern Fairytale? How Palace beat City to win first major trophy

There’s nothing better than a bout of cup final superstition, like Oliver Glasner’s post-press-conference pastry or Steve Parish’s lucky cufflinks.

There’s little better than a tifo flag display either, and £45,000 ($60,000) was thrown at Crystal Palace’s on Saturday, a vast banner reading: ‘Wembley will shake…and it will be beautiful.’

The FA Cup final positively infected Palace’s bones, from manager Glasner to chairman Parish to their hardcore, south-London support. The tifo was prescient. Wembley indeed shook and a first significant trophy for a club whose roots trace back to 1861 was the sort of beauty football needs. Manchester City, Saturday’s beaten finalists, normally eat these pieces of silverware for breakfast.

Palace aren’t a fairytale in the truest tradition. Their minority shareholder, John Textor, carries the billionaire moniker and they’ve been raking in Premier League income for 12 years straight. But they’re a new name on the cup and they’re a team without the power of state funding or a bottomless pit behind them. Based in the suburb of Croydon, they’re about as local as a top-flight English side gets.

They’re also an extension of this season’s capacity to surprise, after Newcastle United ended a 70-year streak without a major domestic trophy in the Carabao Cup and Liverpool claimed the Premier League title. Palace’s FA Cup triumph is well-earned — even if it hinged on a flash of controversy.

Should Henderson have seen red?

Palace scored the only goal after 16 minutes on Saturday, the consistently-impressive Eberechi Eze hacking in a pass from Daniel Munoz. But later in the first half, Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson got away with handling outside the box, swiping the ball away from Erling Haaland as the City striker ran through.

Henderson went unpunished by the match referee Stuart Attwell and video assistant referee (VAR) Jarred Gillett ruled against a red card on the grounds that Haaland was not denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. Judge for yourselves (above) but I have to be honest, I’m non-plussed by that decision — even if our goalkeeping analyst Matt Pyzdrowski thinks it was justified.

Leaving Henderson in play was crucial, partly by keeping Palace at full strength but also because he went on to save a 36th-minute penalty from Omar Marmoush. The penalty itself was interesting, not so much because Marmoush failed to bury it — it happens — but because Haaland turned down the chance to take it himself.

Haaland’s record from the spot isn’t perfect but we’re talking about a world-class forward who cleared 50 goals across all competitions for City in 2022-23. Henderson admitted afterwards that while Haaland’s penalty tactics were a bit of a mystery to him, he had Marmoush figured out. It showed.

City, in 2024-25, have gone from inevitable to doubtable. They’ll be happy to pack this season away and pretend it never happened. Palace, on the other hand, will go home and frame it: a campaign which proves that every dog has its day.

News round-up

(Paul Devlin/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Title choke: Ajax blow nine-point lead in five games

Europe has given us some immense title races. Sporting CP took Portugal’s by a whisker from Benfica on the final day on Saturday. In Italy, Inter shipped a 90th-minute equaliser against Lazio last night, leaving Napoli one point clear at the top of Serie A with a game each to go. The fun there concludes next Sunday.

In the Netherlands, meanwhile, we got an all-time choke: Ajax contriving to finish second having led by nine points with five games to go. Seven more from there would have guaranteed a 37th Dutch crown but the wheels came off. PSV, fueled by 12 goals from USMNT international Malik Tillman, turned on the afterburners and have pinched first place by a point.

Mark Critchley watched Ajax face the music yesterday and despite their coach, Francesco Farioli, trying to rationalise the implosion — “I would love to say: ‘f***ing hell, we should’ve done something more’, but I feel we squeezed everything” — there were tears, there were faces drained of blood and there was Wout Weghorst lashing out at a camera which got too close to him. A collapse like that can break a man and in the past few hours, Farioli has quit.

Tearful farewells: Goodbye to Goodison and Vardy, Champions League race goes to wire

Leicester City FC

We had a weekend of goodbyes in the Premier League. The Everton men’s team’s romance with Goodison Park is over, after 133 years. Paddy Boyland wrote a lovely ode to the grand old ground, and if you haven’t already, catch his brilliant podcast on the Goodison years, here.

Elsewhere, Jamie Vardy bowed out of Leicester City in the only way Jamie Vardy could. He likes a bit of symmetry, evidently, because his 500th Leicester appearance yesterday brought with it his 200th Leicester goal (above). Lots of things are extraordinary about Vardy but the best stat is this: no player in their thirties has scored more Premier League goals than his 111. He somehow got younger with age.

The last week of the campaign now boils down to one, burning issue. Who finishes in the top five and makes the Champions League? With one point separating Newcastle in third from Nottingham Forest in seventh, Elias Burke grabbed his calculator and crunched the numbers. City have a game in hand to fulfill tomorrow. Forest host fourth-placed Chelsea on the last day. Your prediction is as good as mine.

• The answers to Friday’s quiz question: the Everton player who scored most Premier League goals at Goodison Park was Romelu Lukaku (40). And the opposition player who scored the most Premier League goals there was Les Ferdinand (9). I’m not even going to pretend I was close to getting Ferdinand as the answer.

📺 Catch a match: Premier League: Brighton vs Liverpool, 3pm/8pm — USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports.

Pain Game: Messi, Inter Miami lose; Galaxy still winless but extend Vanney deal

“The truth is, yeah, it hurts.”

The words of Lionel Messi in a rare interview after Inter Miami’s latest defeat, 3-0 to Orlando City last night. I’d deduce from his tone that he’s p***ed off. Messi isn’t used to heavy losses and neither are Miami. Their current MLS streak is one win in seven.

Jeff Rueter is seeing problems with their defence, and with Jordi Alba specifically — which is a little awkward because Miami have just renewed the Spanish defender’s deal. Mind you, extensions flying in the face of form are in fashion because far from sacking Greg Vanney, LA Galaxy — now winless in 14 after a 2-2 derby draw with LAFC — have committed to their head coach through 2028. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton…

And finally…

Picture the scene: you’re Le Havre, and you’re going down from France’s Ligue 1. It’s the 99th minute of the season’s last game and you are awarded a penalty that will keep you up if it’s scored. Abdoulaye Toure puts the ball on the spot and Panenkas it like this (above). That was Le Havre’s Saturday, and that was Toure. Is he even human?

(Top photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

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