- Crystal Palace are through to semi-final
- A loss on the night, but a calculated performance
- Oliver Glasner’s masterclass in game management
Crystal Palace will play in a European semi-final for the first time in the club’s history. The mission in Florence was simple: Get the job done.
Taking a 3-0 lead into the second leg, Palace had one foot in the next round already, but avoiding complacency was key.
A 2-1 defeat on the night, the final aggregate score ended 4-2 in Palace’s favour, setting up a mouth-watering semi-final tie with Ukrainian big hitters Shakhtar Donetsk.
The travelling Palace fans brought the noise once again, with an incredible pre-game display from the away end, making the club proud on the continent once more.
Succeeding in defeat
Oliver Glasner named the strongest squad available to him, and Palace began the game in control. Calm, possession-based football was the surefire route to the semi-finals, and Palace dominated the opening exchanges.
An early chance for Daniel Munoz was skewed, but just minutes later, Jaydee Canvot went on another mazy run as he carried the ball deep into the Fiorentina half. The ball was played wide to Munoz, who crossed perfectly for Sarr to power a header beyond David De Gea.
The perfect start, and Palace continued to play the smart game. Drawing their counterparts into committing fouls and frustrating the home fans. Aside from a few long-range efforts, the tie looked well beyond their reach.
With thirty minutes on the clock, Canvas was punished for a soft challenge in the box, Albert Guđmundsson scoring from the spot to spark life into the hosts.
For me, this is where the tie changed.
Injuries to Adam Wharton and Maxence Lacroix forced the introduction of both Jefferson Lerma and Chadi Riad. The latter did an excellent job of slotting in and performing, but Lerma struggled to keep up with the tempo of the game.
The second half began, and Fiorentina were the better side. Creating chances and capitalising on Palace’s poor play in possession. Sloppy passing, rushed forward balls, and generally poor decision-making put Glasner’s side under unnecessary pressure and invited La Viola to attack.
Cher Ndour punished Palace in the 53rd minute, striking from range after Lerma failed to keep the ball with simple passing options available. With over half an hour to play, the nerves began to settle in.
It felt like it would be almost impossible for Palace to throw their lead away, but the years of Palace being, well, Palace, made that doubt creep in slightly more than it should have.
Masterclass in game management
Whilst it felt nervous, Palace began to play the smart game. Delaying restarts, requesting treatment after each foul and using the home crowd against their opponents. Some may call it the dark arts, but in my opinion, Palace were simply playing the referee’s game.
Overbearing officiating can be extraordinarily frustrating when your side trails, but when you’re ahead, it can be a great tool.
Whilst there were some poor decisions, including the lack of VAR review when Chris Richards was scythed down from behind, the Spanish official seemed to be more than happy to call almost every nudge of contact a foul.
The Fiorentina players became aggrieved by this and started throwing heavier, more dangerous tackles. Where Palace did well was their reaction to this. It would have been easy to get dragged into a back-and-forth of heavy tackles and risk bookings to players on the verge of suspension.
Instead, they used each foul to buy time, receive treatment, and antagonise the home side further.
By seventy minutes, it was clear that the game was over, and Palace would be qualifying.
A host of questionable substitutes from Paolo Vanoli drained any hope, introducing a host of young players who simply didn’t have the experience to compete.
With that, the final whistle blew, confirming Palace’s place in the Europa Conference League semi-final. Despite defeat on the night, it was another convincing knockout performance from Glasner’s men, and the Palace march onwards, and one step closer to Leipzig.
