Oliver Glasner hailed how his Crystal Palace side executed his plan to plot their way to the Emirates FA Cup Final.
A spectacular Eberechi Eze strike alongside two goals from Ismaila Sarr earned the Eagles a deserved 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Wembley to send Palace to just their third FA Cup Final, and first since 2016.
Palace’s attacking trio of Eze, Sarr, and Jean-Philippe Mateta were a constant threat while Dean Henderson pulled off a number of fine saves to keep Villa at bay at the other end.
Glasner could only lavish praise on his side, who were the dominant side through most of the match and will now return to Wembley for the showpiece on 17 May.
“It is easy to talk about it but it is very difficult to execute it like the players did today, all credit to them,” he said. “How they stuck to the plan, how hard they were working.
“It was great to see after the missed penalty [by Jean-Philippe Mateta], we had two or three situations to overcome and Dean Henderson made a good save and we didn’t lose our heads.
“We stayed calm, waited for our situation, stuck to the plan and got our reward. It was a really amazing performance today.”
After a nervy start to the semi-final, the contest burst into life after Eze curled a delightful first time strike past Emi Martinez to put Villa into the lead.
There were further chances to add to their tally before the break, with Mateta in particular proving a handful for the Villa defence, but it was not until just before the hour mark that the Eagles struck two goals clear.
It took two attempts, after Mateta first missed from the spot after Eze was fouled by Boubacar Kamara before Sarr drilled home from 25 yards a minute later.
Sarr then rounded off victory late on and Glasner was thrilled with the way his side kept calm throughout the build up despite going winless in their previous four Premier League matches.
How Oliver Glasner reacted to @EbereEze10's wondergoal to get @CPFC going 🦅#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/btDR1Vyvvf
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) April 26, 2025
“It was crucial to show a performance like this today,” he added. “It was the fifth game in two weeks, every game we entered with the approach to win it and we couldn’t do it four times.
“All those steps helped us perform like we did today. When we work so hard as a team, it is not so easy to create chances against us and we can always threaten their defence with our transitions.
“It was such a great atmosphere before. It was very relaxed, I felt very calm. I had to take a few tough decisions.
“I didn’t start Will [Hughes] and Jeff Lerma who played so well for us and they deserved to start. I told them I decided to start with Adam [Wharton] and Daichi [Kamada] in midfield.
“They could have been disappointed or upset but their reaction was ‘okay gaffer, if the team needs me I will be ready’. From that moment I was really calm. It is such a great group of players.”
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery admitted both the result and manner of defeat will sting for his side, but he conceded his charges were beaten by the better team on the day and insisted there are plenty of better days to come for Villa fans.
“They have very good players, they performed very well,” he said. “We didn’t perform our best but that happens sometimes. We didn’t perform like we have been consistently doing. They were better than us.
“They are a very good team and they always perform fantastically against us. In the last four games against them, we lost three and drew one.
"Two years ago when I arrived here we were in a really bad moment and we are improving and our level is going so quick. Yes of course, we lost in the Europa Conference League semi-final against Olympiacos as well. Everything we are doing is increasing our demands and today the loss is something we have to accept."
