Crystal Palace reached the UEFA Conference League final after a 2-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at Selhurst Park on Thursday gave it a 5-2 aggregate victory, earning the Premier League side a place in the decider in its first season in Europe.
Palace, which began the season by winning the Community Shield, will end its campaign with a final against Rayo Vallecano on May 27 in Leipzig after the Spanish side beat Strasbourg 2-0 on aggregate.
The host, bolstered by a 3-1 win in last week’s away leg in Poland, had the ball in the net in the 10th minute, but Yeremy Pino’s goal was ruled out for offside.
Palace went ahead in the 25th minute when Adam Wharton’s shot was parried away by Shakhtar ‘keeper Dmytro Riznyk and Daniel Munoz follow-up from the rebound took a deflection off defender Pedro Henrique.
Shakhtar kept itself in the tie with an equaliser nine minutes later through Eguinaldo, who collected a pass just inside the area, took a touch to control before coolly steering the ball into the top corner.
Ismaila Sarr netted his ninth of the competition, making him this season’s Conference League top scorer, to put Palace back in front and restore its three-goal aggregate advantage seven minutes after the break.
Oliver Glasner’s side was happy to sit back and soak up the Shakhtar pressure to comfortably see out the game and the Palace fans were celebrating long before the final whistle and can now dream of adding to their silverware in what will be the manager’s final game in charge.
Palace had originally qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup last season, the club’s first major trophy, but was dropped to the Conference League in a multi-club ownership case involving French side Olympique Lyonnais.
Published on May 08, 2026