Report & Highlights: Palace defeat Liverpool on penalties to win Community Shield

Summary:

• Palace’s first-ever Community Shield involvement, 85 days after FA Cup final win.
• Glasner names same Palace starting XI as was victorious that famous day.
• 4 – GOAL: Ekitiké cuts inside and bends in low finish for Liverpool.
• 14: Henderson makes remarkable save to deny Gakpo from Salah’s ball in.
• 17 – GOAL: Mateta sends Alisson the wrong way from the spot to level.
• 20: Mitchell is found by Muñoz at the far post, but side-foots wide.
• 21 – GOAL: Frimpong fortuitously restores Liverpool’s lead with mis-hit cross.
• 36: Hughes gets on the end of Muñoz’s bouncing cross, but half-volleys over.
• HT: Palace 1-2 Liverpool
• 46: Ekitiké heads wide from close range.
• 52: The Liverpool forward then blazes his finish over from inside the box.
• 57: Palace create a succession of half-chances as the momentum swings our way.
• 62: Eze goes on the outside and drills a low finish at the near post; Alisson saves.
• 77 – GOAL: Sarr restores Palace’s parity with a smart finish from Wharton’s pass.
• 79: The Senegal forward then sees his close-range effort deflected over the bar.
• 90: Muñoz’s long ball finds Sosa running in behind – but Alisson claims his cross.
• 90+6: Devenny fires narrowly wide from Eze’s lay-off as Palace have the last chance.
• FT: Palace 2-2 Liverpool
• Henderson saves two Liverpool penalties and Mateta, Sarr and Devenny all score for Palace to win shoot-out 3-2.
• PALACE ARE THE 2025 FA COMMUNITY SHIELD WINNERS!

Palace’s first-ever Community Shield involvement was reward for their famous FA Cup final win over Manchester City at Wembley – and yielded a return to the stadium to face Premier League champions Liverpool just 85 days later.

Oliver Glasner elected to name the same starting XI as was behind our two wins against City and Villa beneath the arch last season – and once again they were met with a thunderous wall of red and blue on the West side of the stadium.

As one might expect between two attack-focused teams, it was an exciting contest from the off.

It was the Premier League winners, boasting four expensive recruits, who got off to the best possible start four minutes in, as two of them combined to deadly effect on their debuts.

Hugo Ekitiké and Florian Wirtz exchanged passes on the left side of the box, and the former cut inside Chris Richards before bending a precise low finish across goal and into the bottom corner – the first goal Palace had conceded on the ground this calendar year.

But that did not set the tone for the half – if anything, it spurred Palace on, as they pressed high and played direct with a series of threatening balls and counter-attacks.

After Adam Wharton came close and Ebere Eze’s strike from distance deflected wide, Liverpool did enjoy the next clear chance as Ekitiké’s clever pass freed Mo Salah, whose in-swinging cross bounced in front of Cody Gakpo. The Dutchman prodded goalwards, and Dean Henderson sprung sharply to his left to put the ball away.

Palace did get the reward their early pressure deserved, however, as on the quarter-of-an-hour mark, Kamada’s inch-perfect through-ball set Jean-Philippe Mateta racing through. The Frenchman looked to round Alisson but was tackled; retrieving, Eze squared to Ismaïla Sarr, who touched it inside Virgil van Dijk and was sent tumbling – a clear penalty.

Up stepped Mateta, at the same end of the ground as he missed against Villa in April’s Cup semi-final. This time, however, Palace’s top scorer in pre-season made no mistake – sending Alisson the wrong way from the spot, and the Wembley corner flag duly flying.

Palace’s sustained spell of pressure continued. Daniel Muñoz was showing plenty of dynamism on the right flank and clipped in a threatening cross which found his opposite number, Tyrick Mitchell, in space at the far post; under pressure, the Palace No. 3 side-footed his finish across goal and wide.

But just a minute later, Liverpool restored their lead – fortuitously. It was another debutant who did the damage, as Dominik Szoboszlai’s cross-field pass picked out Jeremie Frimpong. The right wing-back raced towards the byline and mis-hit his cross – but the ball, agonisingly, floated over Henderson and into the far top corner.

The match settled into a more sustained rhythm after such a frantic opening 20 minutes, temperatures in the high 20s forcing a water break – followed not long after by an injury to Kamada, who left the field to be replaced by Will Hughes in midfield.

It was Hughes who had the next opportunity for Palace. Eze’s wonderful diagonal pass – fully 40 yards, if not more – picked out Muñoz on the far flank, and the Colombian’s inviting cross skipped up for Hughes to hit at an awkward height. His contact was firm – but the ball flew over the bar.

Palace continued to have their moments, but it was Liverpool who went into the break with a 2-1 lead.

With the Eagles needing a turnaround, the second half almost began in the same manner as the first: Ekitiké perhaps ought to have scored after stealing in at the back post to meet Milos Kerkez’s cross, but his header across goal sailed wide.

The forward was proving a livewire, and again will feel he ought to have extended Liverpool’s lead five minutes later as he met Kerkez’s low pull-back – following some intricate football – but blazed over the bar.

Once again, Palace responded to the challenge. Kicking towards their raucous end of Wembley, Eze was crowded out from a promising counter; Sarr came close to turning home Mateta’s flicked header – albeit from an offside position; and Eze’s snap-shot from the edge of the box deflected wide.

Shortly after the hour mark, with Palace in that section of the game enjoying around 70 percent of the possession, the Eagles came close again: with Liverpool looking open at the back, Wharton fed Eze, who took on Konaté on the outside and drilled a low finish to the near post. Alisson, to his credit, reacted sharply to kick away.

The sustained pressure saw Liverpool boss Arne Slot shuffle his pack, Ekitiké and Curtis Jones making way for Endo and Alexis Mac Allister as the Reds looked to shore up their midfield.

But with 15 minutes to go, just as it looked like the change had had the desired effect for Liverpool, Palace roared proudly at Wembley once more.

After Marc Guéhi played it long and Hughes won the knockdown, Wharton had time and space to clip a clever pass into the path of Sarr, who burst through and – clinically – placed his first goal of the season in off the post.

Within seconds, he could have put Palace ahead. Eze’s diagonal pass into the area beat Mac Allister, and Sarr – taking it inside – looked all set to score, only for Kerkez to dive in and deflect the shot over the bar.

There was to be one final Palace chance in regulation time as Muñoz’s clipped pass in behind found Borna Sosa – making his debut for the club – in space on the byline, but the Croatian’s looping cross was plucked out the sky before it could reach Mateta.

Liverpool did squeeze in a final half-chance too, but Henderson did well to get behind Szoboszlai’s fizzing low effort.

With five added minutes winding down, there was almost a final twist: Eze laid off for Justin Devenny, just seconds after the Northern Ireland international had entered the pitch. His first-time, right footed effort with the laces looked for all the world like it was about to find the bottom corner – veering wide at the last second.

To the shoot-out lottery we went, therefore, with Liverpool winning the toss to have kicks taken in front of their supporters, and the Reds also kicking first.

It was Salah who went first – and over the bar he blazed. Early advantage Crystal Palace – Mateta went first, and scored his second spot-kick of the game.

Just as the match itself had proven a thriller, so too did the shoot-out: Henderson produced a brilliant save from Alexis Mac Allister, before Eze was denied by Alisson; Gakpo briefly equalised before Sarr restored our lead; Henderson saved, again, from Harvey Elliott; and Sosa hit the bar for Palace.

Dominik Szoboszlai needed to score to keep Liverpool in it – he did.

But up stepped young Devenny with the pick of the penalties, crashing his effort into the top-right corner to give Palace glory at Wembley again.

Special days indeed to be a Crystal Palace fan.

Palace: Henderson (GK), Muñoz, Richards, Lacroix, Guéhi (Devenny, 90+4), Mitchell (Sosa, 78), Kamada (Hughes, 28), Wharton (Lerma, 85), Sarr, Mateta, Eze.

Subs: Benítez (GK), Clyne, Cardines, Esse, Édouard.

Liverpool: Alisson (GK), Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez (Robertson, 84), Jones (Endo, 71), Szoboszlai, Wirtz (Elliott, 84), Salah, Ekitiké, (Mac Allister 71), Gakpo.

Subs: Mamardashvili (GK), Chiesa, Nyoni, Doak, Ngumoha.

As It Happened