Keep this up and Crystal Palace’s European adventure could end in yet more silverware for Oliver Glasner. Four years ago it was Daichi Kamada who scored the winning goal for Glasner’s Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against West Ham on their way to lifting the trophy. The Japan midfielder again provided the crucial moment here before setting up the substitute Jørgen Strand Larsen to ensure Palace will head into next week’s second leg with a two-goal advantage.
With all his experience, Glasner will know that this tie is not over after a vibrant Shakhtar Donetsk side stuffed with attacking Brazilian flair caused them plenty of problems. Ismaïla Sarr’s opener after just 21 seconds was the fastest goal in Conference League history and the Senegal forward now has eight in 11 appearances so far in this competition.
But it was Kamada, who is out of contract at the end of the season and received a standing ovation from the away fans when he was taken off, that stole the show. All the signs are that he will follow Glasner in leaving at the end of the season, although perhaps qualifying for the Europa League that would be the result of winning this competition after being controversially demoted could be enough to persuade him to stay.
Whatever happens, Glasner’s future seems certain to be away from south London despite leading Palace into the promised land of Europe after winning the first major trophy in the club’s history in last season’s FA Cup. But you get the sense that he will still find it hard to say goodbye, such are the memories he has created in south London and now southern Poland.
“I promised I will give my best and try to be the best Oliver Glasner I can be until the last day and I think this is what we now experience,” he said. “Because that is also my character, and I am not fleeing or running away. Now it is 100% focus, hopefully until the 27th of May with a huge party, and then we will see that I can party as well.”
There were seven Brazilians in Shakhtar’s starting lineup and Arda Turan had promised his team would not be shy in coming forward. But the former Barcelona and Atlético Madrid forward could not hide his disgust with their start as they were caught napping almost immediately from the kick-off. Sarr won the initial header and was put clean through by Jean-Philippe Mateta after he and Kamada exchanged passes on the edge of the area. The Senegal forward made no mistake to send the travelling supporters into raptures.
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
Shakhtar slowly found their feet and spurned two excellent opportunities to equalise that were both created by the lively Alisson Santana down the right flank. By the half-hour mark, such was the extent of Shakhtar’s dominance of possession that they had completed 170 passes compared to only 44 by Palace. Yet they looked vulnerable in defence when Palace broke and Oleg Ocheretko had to take one for the team in hauling down Adam Wharton and was given the first yellow card of the night. There was evidence of Palace’s development under Glasner this season in the final 15 minutes of the first half as they managed to get hold of the ball more and slow the game down to their pace, much to Turan’s frustration as he prowled the technical area virtually kicking every ball.
Shakhtar came out for the second half with real purpose and it took only two minutes for them to draw level. Defending corners has been a major issue for Palace this season and Glasner was left fuming when Kauã Elias beat Maxence Lacroix to a header at the near post. Ocheretko was totally unmarked inside the six-yard box to slide home.
To their credit, Palace responded quickly and could easily have found themselves back in front before Kamada finally struck. Mateta and Sarr were both denied by Dmytro Riznyk before the France striker saw his shot come off a post when a long throw from Chris Richards caused panic in the Shakhtar box. They did not heed the warning as two minutes later Kamada slammed home with his left foot after the ball fell perfectly into his path.
There was a hint of fortune about the crucial third when Valeriy Bondar totally misjudged the bounce of the ball and Kamada was able to lay it on a plate for Strand Larsen to give Palace the cushion that they craved.
