Crystal Palace took a giant stride towards the Conference League final with a 3-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of their semi-final in Krakow, with Ismaila Sarr’s goal after just 21 seconds becoming the fastest in the competition’s history.
Sarr raced onto Jean-Philippe Mateta’s knockdown to fire into the net almost before the game had begun, sending the travelling Palace support into raptures at the Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium.
Oleh Ocheretko levelled two minutes into the second half, but Daichi Kamada restored the lead from a Chris Richards long throw in the 58th minute before substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen wrapped up a convincing victory on the counter-attack with six minutes remaining.
Palace carry a two-goal advantage back to South London for the second leg at Selhurst Park next Thursday, with a place in the Leipzig final on May 27 at stake.
“I’m very happy and very pleased with the performance,” manager Oliver Glasner told TNT Sports. “Credit to the players – they stuck to the plan and worked very hard, every single one in defence. We didn’t give them a lot. They were a big threat from set-plays. This is where we conceded, but I think we were also the same when we went forward. When we were on the attack, it was always very threatening.
“I was really impressed with the reaction the team showed when we conceded the equaliser because, all of a sudden, we had two or three big chances, missed them, and then it was a long throw-in and we took the lead again, and then waited for our situations. Huge impacts from the bench.
“Overall, we are very pleased with the performance, but it’s just the first step. I believe we have to perform even better at home to go to the final.”
“It’s an amazing group of people, of men, of characters. There is such a big spirit and great togetherness and we always believe in ourselves. There is no button we can press to switch it on, it is something we have created over months and years — that we know we can always come back and score a goal.”
Strand Larsen breaks his duck
The moment that sealed the win came from Strand Larsen, who had struggled to find his feet in recent weeks and came off the bench to put the tie firmly in Palace’s hands.
“I needed that. I was unlucky against Liverpool – I felt like the confidence had dropped but always keep going. It’s tough, two good players [himself and Mateta] fighting for one spot, but to come in and score is amazing.
“You could see after we scored early that they are a good team. We had to stay in, not lose our heads. We are 3-1 up but there is still a game to play. Important for me and the team to get a third.
“We know the structure of the manager and the team. We had to accept they are a good team so we had to sit a bit deeper today but we did well on the counter-attack — and if we were even better we could have scored more.
“We are not going to over-celebrate. We are really happy with this, hopefully we are going to smash it on Thursday and go through.”
