Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Liveupdated

Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa LIVE: Eagles blow Villa away to soar into FA Cup final

A place in the domestic showpiece is on the line in an intriguing clash at Wembley

Miguel Delaney
at Wembley
,Will Castle
Saturday 26 April 2025 19:57 BST
Comments
'It's a football game' - Glasner won't make FA Cup semi 'bigger than it is'

Crystal Palace blew away Aston Villa at Wembley to give themselves a shot at lifting a first FA Cup trophy in their history.

After a slow start, Ebereche Eze fired in a stunner to bring the semi-final clash to life, just as he did in Palace’s last-eight tie at Craven Cottage.

Villa thought they had renewed hope when Jean-Philippe Mateta missed his penalty soon after the restart - but were quickly dealt a hammer blow when Ismaila Sarr doubled Palace’s lead from range.

Sarr put the icing on the cake in stoppage time as he slotted past Emi Martinez, sealing the Eagles’s place in only their third ever FA Cup final - now on the verge of a first major title.

Follow all of the latest from the FA Cup semi-final with our live blog below:

FULL-TIME! Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa

(Getty Images)
(The FA via Getty Images)
(The FA via Getty Images)
Will Castle26 April 2025 19:28

FULL-TIME! Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa

CRYSTAL PALACE ARE INTO THE FA CUP FINAL!

Palace blew away Aston Villa at Wembley to give themselves a shot at lifting a first FA Cup trophy in their history.

After a slow start, Ebereche Eze fired in a stunner to bring the semi-final to life, just as he did in Palace’s last-eight tie at Craven Cottage.

Villa thought they had renewed hope when Jean-Philippe Mateta missed his penalty soon after the restart - but were quickly dealt a hammer blow when Ismaila Sarr doubled Palace’s lead from range.

Sarr put the icing on the cake in stoppage time as he slotted past Emi Martinez, sealing the Eagles’s place in only their third ever FA Cup final.

(The FA via Getty Images)
Will Castle26 April 2025 19:12

Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa

90+6 mins: This has been a clinic from Crystal Palace. Every player has shown up.

It’s party time in South London.

Will Castle26 April 2025 19:11

GOAL! Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa

90+4 mins: GOAL! SARR SEALS IT!

Aston Villa are robbed of possession again and Sarr runs in on goal to slot past Martinez and take this one out of sight.

Crystal Palace will be in the FA Cup final.

Will Castle26 April 2025 19:08

Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa

90+2 mins: Another off-balance Malen effort flies out for a throw after it bounced from head to head in the box.

Will Castle26 April 2025 19:06

Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa

90 mins: Malen receives the ball with back to goal and falls over as he directs a tame effort towards Henderson.

SEVEN minutes added on.

Will Castle26 April 2025 19:05

Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa

88 mins: Eze and Wharton are taken off by Glasner as Hughes and Lerma enter the fray to steady the ship.

Another influential performance by the man who set this semi-final alight, Eze.

Will Castle26 April 2025 19:03

Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa

86 mins: Cash gets into the box and spots a path to goal, firing an effort through the gap that goes a yard or so wide.

Henderson was never troubled by that.

Will Castle26 April 2025 19:01

Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa

85 mins: Another Villa free-kick is nodded away, this time by Sarr.

Bailey retrieves and lofts a deep delivery towards Torres, who can only prod into the side-netting.

Palace are nearly there.

Will Castle26 April 2025 19:00

Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa

83 mins: Mitchell is now down and receiving treatment.

He isn’t able to continue and makes way for Chilwell.

Palace still have three subs available, while Villa have used all five up.

Will Castle26 April 2025 18:58

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in