Crystal Palace, somewhat surprisingly, has to do an extra round in the Football Conference League.
Coach Oliver Glasner’s team couldn’t get past a 2-2 draw at home against Kuopion PS in the last round of the league phase on Thursday and are therefore only in tenth place after six match days. Only the top 8 are in the round of 16, the next 16 have to go to the play-offs first. FSV Mainz 05 is firmly in the round of 16 after a 2-0 win over Samsunspor.
Palace, who rested a few regular players, took the lead in keeping with Chrisantos Uche’s goal with a remarkable goal from the outside of the foot (5th). The Tyrolean Johannes Kreidl in the goal of the Finnish champions of the previous season had no chance. In the second half, the underdog surprisingly turned the game around within three minutes: Piotr Parzyszek (50th) and Ibrahim Cisse (53rd) put the guests ahead 2-1. From the 73rd minute onwards, however, the Finns were down to ten men after Clinton Antwi was shown red for a foul on Will Hughes. The English immediately took advantage of their numerical superiority with a goal from Justin Devenny (76th), but they were no longer able to win against the self-sacrificingly defending outsiders.
In Mainz, Silvan Widmer (44th) and Nadiem Amiri scored a penalty (48th) to take FSV, who had to do without the injured Phillipp Mwene and the suspended Nikolas Veratschnig, to seventh place in the table and thus into the round of 16. Racing Strasbourg finished the league phase in first place with 16 points. In addition to the French and Mainz, Rakow Czestochowa (14), AEK Athens, Sparta Prague, Shakhtar Donetsk, Rayo Vallecano (all 13 each) and AEK Larnaka (12) also made it into the top 8.
