Crystal Palace sealed their place in the UEFA Conference League semifinals with a 4-2 aggregate win over Fiorentina, despite suffering a 2-1 loss in the second leg. Ismaila Sarr's early header had given the Eagles a promising start, but the Italian side fought back with goals on either side of injury substitutions for Adam Wharton and Maxence Lacroix.
Although Fiorentina's performance improved from the first leg, it was not enough to prevent Palace from reaching their first European semifinal, where they will face Shakhtar Donetsk. Palace became the fifth English club to reach the Conference League last four, following in the footsteps of Chelsea, West Ham, Leicester, and Aston Villa. The Eagles' victory was marred by injuries to Wharton and Lacroix, with the former limping off after 30 minutes due to an adductor issue and the latter suffering a medial ligament injury in his knee.
Despite these setbacks, Palace held on to secure a historic win, with Sarr earning the Player of the Match award. The club will now face Shakhtar Donetsk in the semifinals, with the first leg scheduled for April 30 and the second leg on May 7. Palace manager Oliver Glasner praised his team's resilience, saying, 'In the knockout stages, sometimes it's not always playing the best football. You need different skills, and today it was really being resilient and working hard, sticking together, and the team did it.' Goalkeeper Dean Henderson also expressed his delight, stating, 'This is unbelievable for this football club...
The fans have stuck by us in the difficult times this season, and hopefully, we can deliver them something really special.'