Palace took their bow in the Europa League at Selhurst Park with an emphatic victory over visiting Polish champions, Lech Poznan to kick off another European campaign in style.
MATCH INFORMATION
| 17 September 2026 – 8pm |
| Crystal Palace 4-0 Lech Poznan |
| Selhurst Park |
| Europa League |
OFFICIALS
| Referee | Michal OCENAS (SVK) |
| VAR | Jeroen MANSCHOT (NED) |
| Assistant Referees | Adam JEKKEL, Tobias PACAK (SVK) |
| Fourth Official | Ivan KRUZLIAK(SVK) |
| Assistant VAR | Clay RUPERTI (NED) |
PLAYER RATINGS
Crystal Palace
| 44 | Walter BENITEZ | 8.5 |
| 25 | Anan KHALAILI | 6.9 |
| 3 | Tyrick MITCHELL | 7.1 |
| 26 | Chris RICHARDS | 8.1 |
| 5 | Axel DISASI | 7.3 |
| 21 | Honor AHANOR | 6.8 |
| 23 | Quinten TIMBER | 7.4 |
| 20 | Adam WHARTON © | 8.4 |
| 18 | Daichi KAMADA | 7.1 |
| 10 | Yeremy PINO | 9.0 |
| 22 | Jorgen Strand LARSEN | 7.3 |
| 6 | Jaydee CANVOT (RICHARDS 74 mins) | 6.9 |
| 7 | Ismaila SARR (KAMADA 74 mins) | 6.2 |
| 9 | Eddie NKETIAH (LARSEN 74 mins) | 7.0 |
| 11 | Dwight MCNEIL (TIMBER 62 mins) | 7.5 |
| 17 | Takehiro TOMIYASU | – |
| 24 | Dario OSORIO | – |
| 30 | Oscar MINGUEZA (KHALAILI 62 mins) | 6.2 |
| 31 | Remi MATTHEWS | – |
| 33 | Ben CHILWELL | – |
| 43 | Sebastian WILLIAMS | – |
| 81 | Lucca BENNETTON | – |
Lech Poznan
| 1 | Mateusz LIS | 5.5 |
| 2 | Joel PEREIRA | 6.2 |
| 27 | Wojciech MONKA | 6.6 |
| 59 | Terry YEGBE | 5.0 |
| 15 | Michal GURGUL | 6.1 |
| 21 | Pablo RODRIGUEZ | 6.0 |
| 22 | Radoslaw MURAWSKI | 4.5 |
| 17 | Allahyar SAYYADMANESHSHIADEH | 6.2 |
| 77 | Luis PARMA | 6.3 |
| 10 | Patrik WALEMARK | 6.4 |
| 9 | Mikael ISHAK © | 6.0 |
| 4 | Joao MOUTINHO | – |
| 7 | Yannick AGNERO (ISHAK 61 mins) | 5.8 |
| 11 | Daniel HAKANS (RODRIGUEZ 81 mins) | 5.9 |
| 14 | Leo BENGTSSON (WALEMARK 70 mins) | 6.3 |
| 20 | Robert GUMNY (PEREIRA 70 mins) | 6.0 |
| 24 | Filip JAGIELLO (SAYYADMANESHSHIADEH 61 mins) | 5.9 |
| 31 | Wiktor OBREMSKI | – |
| 33 | Mateusz PRUCHNIEWSKI | – |
| 56 | Wojciech SZYMCZAK | – |
| 72 | Mateusz SKRZYPCZAK | – |
POST GAME QUOTES
PIERRE SAGE
“I enjoyed a lot of things. The fact we scored four times in different ways, with four different players, and to have a clean sheet at the end. There were some good moments in our play, too. I keep in mind that there were 15 minutes in the first half and the second half where we made too many mistakes with the ball, so we have to continue improving.”
CHRIS RICHARDS
“Tonight was lit! We were able to keep a clean sheet at home and that’s something we’ve worked hard for this season, and it’s well deserved. On top of that, we had a few different goalscorers, including myself, so overall it’s a great start to this campaign.
Coming off the back of last year, we have a lot of confidence, but not arrogance. It’s going to be a long year if we want to make it to the final but ultimately, we did it last season and we proved it every week. For us, we’ll just continue to put our heads down, keep working and be satisfied with this result.”
NIELS FREDERIKSEN
“The most important thing is to say that we are able to play against good teams. We created chances. We need to take away the mistakes. We showed what kind of team we are and how we would like to play. We managed to do some good things with the ball, also, creating some chances. But of course, conceding four goals, it’s too much.”
MATCH STATISTICS
| Star Man | Yeremy PINO (9.0) |
| Goals | Yeremy PINO (10), Chris RICHARDS (27), Jorgen Strand LARSEN (34 pen), Eddie NKETIAH (89) |
| Assists | Adam WHARTON (27), Dwight MCNEIL (89) |
| Most shots | Jorgen Strand LARSEN, Luis PALMA (5) |
| Most tackles | Chris RICHARDS (4) |
| Most dribbles | Yeremy PINO (4) |
| Team rating | 7.35 – 5.91 |
| Total shots | 16 – 17 |
| Shots on target | 6 – 6 |
| Yellow cards | Radoslaw MURAWSKI (76) |
| Red cards | Radoslaw MURAWSKI (87) |
| Possession | 52.7% – 47.3% |
| Pass success | 88% – 84% |
| Passes | 545 – 489 |
| Dribbles | 6 – 8 |
| Aerials won | 3 – 5 |
| Tackles | 20 – 11 |
| Fouls | 11 – 7 |
| Corners | 6 – 5 |
| Saves | 6 – 2 |
| Dispossessed | 5 – 11 |
TEB VERDICT
An impressive performance under the lights at Selhurst Park as the Eagles got their Europa League campaign underway by taking all three points from their Polish visitors.
Yeremy Pino stole the show with the opening goal to set Palace on their way and raced into a 3-0 lead at the break with Chris Richards and Jorgen Strand Larsen adding to the tally. A late second half goal from the returning Eddie Nketiah capped off a very good evening for the hosts to make it four.
There were some signs of the defensive frailties but you must commend the team for keeping a clean sheet, thanks to a busy Walter Benitez between the sticks. The clean sheet will work wonders for the confidence of the back line who will be without Axel Disasi for the next three games after his sending off at the weekend.
It was an emphatic victory for Palace and a statement of intent to kick off their maiden Europa League campaign, albeit a year late! The clinical first half performance effectively sealed the tie and they never looked back. Poznan were not without any threat but could not finish from good positions.
You could not have asked for any more on another European night at Selhurst Park, with plenty more to come this season. Destination Frankfurt is well underway.
LEAGUE POSITION
| P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Juventus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| 2 | Crystal Palace | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | Sparta Prague | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
UPCOMING FIXTURES
| DATE | TEAM | LOCATION | COMPETITION | KICK OFF TIME |
| 20/09/2026 | Leeds United | Away | Premier League | 2pm |
| 11/10/2026 | Nottingham Forest | Home | Premier League | 2pm |
| 15/10/2026 | Lyon | Away | Europa League | 5.45pm |
