Oliver Glasner has urged Crystal Palace to win the Conference League final so they can take up the Europa League place denied them this season after they fell foul of Uefa’s multi-club ownership rules.
Last year’s FA Cup winners were demoted to the Conference League after Uefa deemed John Textor had a controlling interest in Palace and Lyon, who had also qualified for the secondary competition. The south London club will face Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig on Wednesday night at the end of their first European campaign in Glasner’s last match.
The Austrian, who also guided Palace to the Community Shield in August and won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022, confirmed in January that he would leave at the end of the season.
Glasner revealed on Tuesday that the Palace players had held a farewell party for him on Monday, when he backed them to win a third trophy in 12 months and secure a Europa League spot next season.
“They had a nice farewell to me and then I said a few words,” the manager said. “I said for me that the best thing would be of course winning tomorrow because then the players would be in the Europa League next year and then we get what we should have got this year.
“I would like to watch on TV that they start with the desire and the confidence that we can win the Europa League as well. This would make me really happy because then I think we created a mindset all together where at the end it’s always successful.
“That doesn’t mean that you win a trophy every single year but at the end you will always get the best out of every single player. That’s why I hope that we win tomorrow and these players can play European football again next year.”
Palace are hopeful of appointing Andoni Iraola as Glasner’s replacement, although it is understood that the outgoing Bournemouth manager also has interest from Milan and Bayer Leverkusen. Pierre Sage, who led Lens to second place in Ligue 1 this season, is understood to be a contender if Iraola turns them down. The Palace captain, Dean Henderson, said losing Glasner would be “a huge miss”.
“I think he knows that from yesterday,” the England goalkeeper said. “The players did a send-off video and spoke from the heart.
The Palace chair, Steve Parish, was spotted enjoying the sunshine in Leipzig, where a replica trophy has been on display at the city’s Marktplatz. More than 15,000 Palace supporters are expected in the city.
“The team’s got a special connection with the supporters and when I joined the football club I felt like that was distant,” Henderson said. “It’s good to see since the manager has come in we’ve built that rapport with the supporters because I think it’s important. They can really help us tomorrow night.”
Adam Wharton and Chris Richards trained on Tuesday but Glasner would not confirm whether either would start against a side, managed by Iraola’s former assistant Iñigo Pérez, who operate on a fifth of Palace’s budget.
“I think we share football traits with Crystal Palace,” Pérez said. “The effort, the collective … For me, Crystal Palace is a dream rival. I think that beyond the money comparisons, we must represent the Vallecas neighbourhood. Maintaining our identity will be the right approach.”