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2 days ago
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The Crystal Palace juggernaut is showing no signs of letting up. Goals from Daniel Muñoz and the substitute Eddie Nketiah ensured Oliver Glasner’s side marked their first appearance in the main phase of a European competition with a comfortable victory over Dynamo Kyiv despite a late red card for Borna Sosa.
It was the perfect reward for the 3,500 supporters who had made the pilgrimage from south London to southern Poland as Palace made it 19 games unbeaten in all competitions to establish a new club record that dates back more than 50 years. Against opponents who have enjoyed plenty of famous European nights in their storied history but are no longer the same force of old due to the ongoing war with Russia, there was only ever going to be one winner as Glasner’s side showed they are well equipped to go all the way to Leipzig despite their inexperience at this level.
You have to go back to 1969 for the last time Palace managed to go undefeated for 18 games under their former manager Bert Head when they achieved promotion to the old First Division for the first time in their history. These days, the south Londoners are an established force in the Premier League and came into this match brimming with confidence after their superb performance in the win over Liverpool on Saturday courtesy of Nketiah’s late winner.
Glasner’s opposite number Oleksandr Shovkovskyi rested half of his first-choice side for their league game at the weekend and the veteran former West Ham forward Andriy Yarmolenko was one of those recalled. Kyiv’s players emerged from the tunnel before kick-off with Ukrainian flags draped over their shoulders, with a similar number of home supporters in attendance at a ground that is 400 miles from their home.
In a competition that they have started as bookmakers’ favourites, Palace are likely to face a different challenge of having to break teams down rather than hitting them on the break. Aside from a dangerous cross from Yeremy Pino that Jean-Philippe Mateta just failed to make contact with in the 11th minute, they struggled to create anything meaningful against a determined Kyiv defence. Maxence Lacroix required treatment after clashing heads with Taras Mykhavko midway through the first half, with the Kyiv defender having to be withdrawn after attempting to come back on. He left the pitch looking distinctly groggy.
The Ukrainian champions did not even manage to replace him before they found themselves trailing. Pino found space down the left flank and drilled a cross to back post, with Muñoz rising to brilliantly loop his header into the far corner. The Palace fans behind the goal could not contain their delight and responded to a subsequent request from the stadium announcer to only show “positive emotions” by launching into a loud chorus of their anti-Uefa song. Sosa had a golden opportunity to double their lead just before half-time but Ruslan Neshcheret was equal to his volley from Muñoz’s cross.
Perhaps with Sunday’s meeting with Everton in mind, Glasner withdrew Mateta at the break and replaced him with Nketiah. He was forced intro another change when Will Hughes went down a few minutes after the restart, with Jefferson Lerma coming on. Nketiah had the ball in the net after being set up by Adam Wharton, only for it to be ruled out for offside. But he did not have to wait long for another chance when Pino wriggled free down the left and the former Arsenal striker volleyed in his cross.
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Nketiah almost scored again with a speculative shot from distance that was almost spilled into his own net by Neshcheret as Palace continued to dominate. Sosa’s decision to launch into a tackle on Oleksandr Tymchyk and earn himself a second yellow card three minutes after being shown his first could have put a dampener on Palace’s perfect day. But such is the quality of their defence these days that Palace never really looked like conceding as they kicked off their Conference League campaign in style.
