OLIVER Glasner revealed he showed a video to the players of their glorious FA Cup triumph before Crystal Palace came from behind to beat Liverpool 3-2 on penalties in the Community Shield at Wembley.
Having never won a major trophy in their history before their 1-0 victory over Manchester City in May, the Eagles claimed their second in 85 days against Arnie Slot’s Premier League champions.
Goals from Liverpool’s debutants Hugo Ekitike and Jeremy Frimpong were each cancelled out by a Jean-Philippe Mateta penalty and a second-half strike from Ismaila Sarr.
Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson was the penalty hero as he saved from Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott, while Mohamed Salah fired over the bar.
Eberechi Eze and Borna Sosa also missed for Palace, before 21-year-old substitute midfielder Justin Devenny drove the winning penalty past Alisson.
“I showed the players a video before we went to Wembley about the happiness of the fans after winning the FA Cup,” Glasner said.
“We call it the emotional reward: standing in front of the fans, having this feeling – you can’t buy it with any money in the world.
“The players deserved it and our fans deserved it in the same way, because they’re always supporting us from the beginning to the end, even when we were down.
“They were always pushing the team forward and it’s a great connection. In the end we all were rewarded – and this is what then stays forever.”
Glasner explained the preparation that Henderson did before the game and also revealed Devenny put his hand up to take the fifth spot-kick.
“We know that he is a great goalkeeper,” Glasner said. “There’s a lot of work behind it.
“For example, the day before the meeting in the hotel with the analysts, his goalkeeping coach, he went through all the penalty takers from Liverpool and was well prepared.
“He has the confidence, I think, that he can save the penalties. He showed it.
“But also, on the other side, I’m really delighted that Justin Devenny took the decisive penalty at 21-years-old.
“We didn’t talk [about who’d take the penalties] before – never – because you don’t know who’s on the pitch after a few subs. It was clear that JP, Ebere and Ismaïla would take the first three. Then we were looking for the fifth one and Justin said, ‘I’ll take the fifth one’, with a lot of confidence – and I think he showed it.
“This is how we want it to be. Take responsibility. Never be scared, or be worried or concerned that you could make a mistake, because this is football.
“There are really many positive things today.”
Liverpool had over £250million worth of new signings in their starting line-up. Meanwhile Glasner named the same starting XI as he did against Pep Guardiola’s side.
“These emotions are fantastic,” Henderson said. “You’d think obviously they were 2-1 up and we were out the game, but the lads stuck by it.
“The manager said we’d get a chance in the second half on transitions, we did. We stuck by it, defended great, and we deserved that in the end.”
Henderson clearly enjoys his days out at Wembley, after he saved City attacker Omar Marmoush’s penalty in the FA Cup final.
“I love it, I love the big moments, I love being in that pressure moment,” Henderson said. “I really enjoyed that today, the homework we did for the penalties was great, so thanks to everyone behind the scenes that helped me with that.
“It’s incredible, we turned up today, they’re the favourites, they’ve got unbelievable players, they’re a great team and we knew it would be difficult.
“We had to defend them, we had to work so hard but you know what, two trophies in three months is incredible – and let’s write the next bit of history.”
