Tonight’s other semi-final features Rayo Vallecano and Strasbourg, with the Spanish side taking a slender 1-0 first-leg lead with them to France.
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Rayo grab lead over Strasbourg in other semi-final
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Alemão glanced in the only goal to give Rayo Vallecano a precious 1-0 lead in the Uefa Conference League semi-final first leg against visiting Strasbourg on Thursday.
In a meeting between two teams seeking to reach a first European final, Alemão rose at the near post in the 54th minute to meet a Unai López corner. He missed the ball with his head but it hit his right shoulder and lobbed in to the far corner of the net.
In an energetic but scrappy match in which the hosts collected four yellow cards and the visitors five, the French side started strongly.
Roared on by a raucous crowd at their 15,000-capacity Vallecas Stadium in Madrid, the hosts wrested away control. They managed 24 strikes at goal compared to Strasbourg’s total of five. AFP
Ed was also in Krakow for that first leg, where Palace took a very early lead and largely kept their hosts at bay, winning 3-1. Perhaps that’s where Luis Enrique and PSG got the idea.
Despite arriving here two goals behind after the first leg in Poland, Shakhtar Donetsk cannot be written off. As Ed Aarons writes, the Ukrainian club have overcome much greater struggles in the last 10 years.
Preamble
Back in April 1962, Crystal Palace hosted Real Madrid in a friendly to christen Selhurst Park’s new floodlights. Alfredo Di Stéfano graced the pitch with “effortless ease at walking pace” (according to the Croydon Advertiser) and his team ran out 4-3 winners.
Save for a solitary Intertoto Cup tie and a few Anglo-Italian Cup outings, that was pretty much it for Palace and European football, until this very season. It’s been a steep learning curve – demoted from Europa to Conference League, Palace had to progress via the playoff round while planning for the summer departure of Oliver Glasner.
Having dispatched Zrinjski Mostar, AEK Larnaca and Fiorentina in the knockout rounds, Palace kick off the second leg with a 3-1 advantage over Shakhtar Donetsk and a major European final in touching distance. It’s the biggest European night in SE25 since Alfredo and co strutted their stuff there some 64 years ago. And it’s live!
