Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner had reporters in hysterics when he revealed a conversation he had with Ismaila Sarr. The Senegalese forward thought he’d opened the scoring against Tottenham Hotspur last night.
Evann Guessand played a cool through ball into the path of Sarr, who found the back of Guglielmo Vicario’s net with ease in the 32nd minute. VAR intervened and ruled the goal out due to the Palace man being in an offside position.
Glasner waved his finger in protest after rewatching the goal himself with his coaching staff. It needn’t matter as the Eagles surged to a 3-1 win courtesy of a Sarr brace and Jorgen Strand Larsen’s fine finish.
Nosey Glasner
Palace came from behind to beat the Lilywhites following Dominic Solanke’s opener. Sarr won a penalty after he was pulled to the ground by Micky van de Ven, who was subsequently sent off.
Sarr sent Vicario the wrong way from the spot before Strand Larsen put his side ahead. It was three for the visitors before half-time when Sarr bagged his second of the night.
Glasner was in an upbeat mood following the win and didn’t need to question the offside decision. But the Austrian revealed how he joked with Sarr about the goal being ruled out (via BeanymanSports):
“Scored a goal we all felt we were one-nil up and then it was disallowed. I said to Ismaila, ‘I think your nose is too long. Because you can score a goal with your nose, that’s why it was offside.”
Sarr won the Man of the Match award for his display against Spurs, adding two goals to his tally for the season. But Adam Wharton was equally impressive, earning widespread acclaim for his performance.
Palace’s win means they now sit 13th in the Premier League table, having won 38 points from 29 games. Next up for Glasner’s men is the first leg of their Europa Conference League Round of 16 tie against AEK Larnaca on Thursday (March 12th).
Glasner hails Palace goals
Wharton produced two stunning assists for both Sarr and Strand Larsen as Palace bounced back from a 2-1 loss to Manchester United. The South Londoners focused on the job at hand after Van de Ven’s sending-off.
Glasner was full of praise for both goals when speaking after the match. He told reporters (via the club’s official website):
“They were two amazing goals to be honest, with one player up. The first goal, everybody will see Adam [Wharton’s] pass and Jørgen’s finish, but we lose the ball in the build-up at the edge of the box and the counter-press was great, especially Evann Guessand, the one who wins the ball back when they passed to their six.”
He added:
“And because he makes a great movement to the ball and wins it back, Adam gets the ball, and then we know his quality with passing and Jorgen’s finishing quality.“
Wharton’s second assist for Sarr was probably the best and Glasner echoed this:
“Of course, the second one was with Adam in the pocket and then with two or three touches and then finding this small gap. And Isma is always on his front foot making these runs, scoring goals and it was great to watch.”
Palace’s win has lifted the mood, and Strand Larsen was back among the goals to bring his tally to three in five games since arriving at the club. It bodes well for Glasner ahead of his side’s Conference League encounter with Larnaca who beat the Eagles 1-0 in the league phase.
