Palace Complete Italian Job To Reach First Ever European Semi Final

The Eagles navigated a very tricky second leg in Florence to earn their right to be one of the last four teams remaining in the Conference League after a narrow loss on the night but the convincing victory at Selhurst proving the difference.

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES; 11 Brennan JOHNSON, 17 Nathaniel CLYNE, 24 Borna SOSA, 31 Remi MATTHEWS, 42 Kaden RODNEY, 44 Walter BENITEZ, 55 Justin DEVENNY, 59 Rio CARDINES

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES; 23 Eman KOSPO, 50 Pietro LEONARDELLI, 53 Oliver CHRISTENSEN, 61 Riccardo BRASCHI, 64 Lapo DELI, 69 Giorgio PUZZOLI

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“A quarter-final is never easy and we made it a bit tougher than it needed to be. Fiorentina got the belief back with the penalty. It was a very difficult game to manage to be honest. We subbed Jean-Philippe Mateta at half-time and the team showed great resilience today. The team worked hard and stuck together and over the two games we deserved to reach the semi-final.

This is what we all want. We want to enjoy our life together, not just the football. The more successful you are, the more you enjoy your life. When you play the semi-final, you want to get it all at the end and that’s what we will go for.”

DEAN HENDERSON

“This is unbelievable for this football club, sensational when you think the FA Cup last season and then to keep going and create a new chapter. It’s phenomenal. The fans have stuck by us in the difficult times this season and hopefully we can go and deliver something really special.

It was a tough game, really tough; 3-0 is a dangerous score and you don’t really know how it will go. We managed to get through so who cares! The togetherness in the group is phenomenal and at the business end of the season, we come together. We’ve just got to keep pushing on and build momentum.”

CHRIS RICHARDS

“I feel like we deserve it over the course of the season and it is very exciting. Some people think we went into this as a consequence because we got demoted [from the Europa League] but we went into this with our heads held high and we ultimately want to win the competition so we are very excited for another set of games.

It was a hostile environment and we started off strong and then we conceded and they had the momentum for the rest of the game. In the second half they came out and scored so kudos to them, they had a really good game but we did what we had to do to get the win on aggregate in the end.”

MATCH STATISTICS

TEB VERDICT

Crystal Palace are in the last four of a European competition. Just let that sink in for a second.

After winning the FA Cup and Community Shield, the Eagles have set their sights on the Conference League trophy with only Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk standing in their way.

The prediction onslaught did not come and it was in fact Palace that took the lead in Florence with some great work by Canvot and Munoz providing Sarr with the ball to head home convincingly.

It was all square at the break as a challenge from Canvot handed the hosts a lifeline with a spot kick which was converted. More disappointingly, Glasner had to replace both Wharton and Lacroix in the first half due to injury which disrupted the rhythm.

The second half started with Fiorentina taking the lead on the night but a mixture of game management and excellent defending ensure that there were no more goals to see Palace through.

It is easy to say that this game was won in the first leg, but this was a very difficult second leg which Palace found a way to get through, even if there were bookings and injuries.

History made, and history is still yet to be made. We’re on our way….

UPCOMING FIXTURES