Crystal Palace put themselves into a comfortable three-goal lead in their Conference League semi-final, with a superb 3-0 win over Fiorentina. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead through Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell in the first half, before Ismaila Sarr put the icing on the cherry.
Crystal Palace will take a significant lead to Italy next week after a resounding 3-0 win over Fiorentina in the Conference League quarter-final first leg.
Having struggled past AEK Larnaca and Zrinjski in the knockout stages so far, Palace were met with their hardest challenge in the form of Fiorentina, the two-time finalists of this competition.
But from the outset, Palace were the better team, and were rewarded for their dominance when Jean-Philippe Mateta converted from the penalty spot for his first goal for the Eagles for three months.
The French striker almost scored a second goal for Palace, with an effort saved by Fiorentina goalkeeper David De Gea making a good save, but the ball went straight into the path of left back Tyrick Mitchell.
The England international made no mistake from close range and just seven minutes after Mateta had struck and Palace led 2-0.
It was a totally deserved 2-0 lead too, with Palace having all the ball, all the shots and all the shots on target.
But the job was only half done and if Fiorentina scored, the game could have been altogether a different story.
And it was the Serie A side, who had gone four games unbeaten in the league, who came into the second half with hunger to take something back to Florence.
They came closest when Giovanni Fabbian had an effort thunder off the crossbar and Dean Henderson was called to make two sharp saves from an Albert Gudmundsson header and Roberto Piccoli strike, having returned to the Palace setup following his fever that ruled him out of the second leg agaisnt AEK Larnaca.
Having withstood the pressure of Fiorentina though, Palace struck with a sucker punch in the 90th minute, as Ismaila Sarr, so often the hero, scored his 16th goal of the season to give the Eagles a three-goal cushion.
Palace will now travel to Florence next Thursday, knowing they can lose by two goals and still safely qualify for the semi-finals.
Oliver Glasner will have a decision to make on players’ minutes, with Palace hosting Newcastle on Sunday afternoon.
Should the Eagles secure safe passage to the semi-finals, they will almost certainly face Shakhtar Donetsk in the final four, after they romped to their own 3-0 win over AZ Alkmaar.
On the other side, Rayo Vallecano defeated AEK Athens 3-0, while Mainz beat Strasbourg 2-0 as all four home sides won to nil.