UEFA Europa League
Crystal Palace 4 – 0 Lech Poznań FT
By winning the 2025-26 Conference League, Crystal Palace became the first team to win a major European trophy in their debut campaign since KV Mechelen lifted the 1987-88 Cup Winners’ Cup [AFP via Getty Images]
Crystal Palace enjoyed a dream Europa League debut with a comfortable victory against Polish champions Lech Poznan.
The Eagles won the Conference League last season and made the step up a tier in Europe look easy with this win at Selhurst Park.
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Their first goal was a gift as a poor throw by the visitors was pounced upon by Yeremy Pino just outside the box and he took a couple of touches before firing into the net.
Lech Poznan had chances to equalise but instead it was Palace who increased their lead with just their second shot on target, Chris Richards heading in from Adam Wharton’s corner.
It got even better for Palace 11 minutes before the break when they were awarded a penalty when Radoslaw Murawski brought down Pino. Jorgen Strand Larsen stepped up to confidently convert his fourth goal in his past three games.
The damage was all done in the dominant first-half display by Crystal Palace, and while the visitors created some opportunities after the break the Eagles were never in danger of being victims of a comeback.
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Instead, Palace added a fourth in the 89th minute when Eddie Nketiah tucked a neat finish into the bottom corner.
Palace make light work of step up
It has been a memorable couple of years for Palace fans with their stunning FA Cup win two seasons ago followed by European glory in the Conference League.
The Europa League, however, marks a step up in quality and supporters will have been cautiously optimistic about how their team would handle it.
On this showing they will have every reason to believe their side can at least reach the knockout stage, though they were helped out by a Lech Poznan side that did themselves no favours.
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Terry Yegbe’s throw for Palace’s opener was a dreadful error of judgement as he simply gifted the ball to Pino, who gratefully waltzed into the area to score.
They never really recovered from that and only the offside flag spared further blushes when Yegbe launched a bizarre attempted clearance into his own net from about 35 yards.
To their credit, the visiting supporters never gave up chanting throughout the second half, even if they had no goal to celebrate, as instead Palace added a late fourth to round off a win that will give them much-needed confidence after a difficult start to the Premier League season, losing three out of four games.
There was one other significant moment for Palace in the second half as Ismaila Sarr came on for his first appearance of the season.
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A proposed move to Liverpool collapsed late in the transfer window, and while his return to action was generally well received, there were some boos among the cheers.
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