It was far from easy ut Crystal Palace got it done. Almost turning very sour, Ismaila Sarr tucked in his second of the noght to send Palace through to the last eight
And breathe.
Crystal Palace have finally got past AEK Larnaca but it was by no means the easy way.
After failing to score at Selhurst Park, Ismaila Sarr bagged for Palace after 13 minutes and it seemed from then, it was going to be plain sailing. Sadly for Palace fans, it was nothing of the sort and the hopeful easy finish was quelled when Enric Saborit equalised for the hosts shortly after the hour mark.
From then on, it was always going to be a difficult affair for Palace, even when Saborit was sent off after receiving a second yellow card on 73 minutes.
Palace had all the possession, all the chances but they just could not find a way to score. In fact, virtually every single attacking stat went the way of the Eagles, but when it came to the 90-minute mark, the scores were level.
That meant extra time and in the extra 30 minutes, it was more of the same for Palace.
Nine minutes into extra time and Sarr was again the scorer, tapping in from close range from a Daichi Kamada pass, and this time surely Palace couldn’t let it drop.
Larnaca threw everything at them and at one point looked the more likely team to score, even when down to 10 men.
But, credit to Oliver Glasner’s men, they were able to hold strong when their backs were against the wall. In a tight European affair, there was of course some VAR controversy and Palace almost fell on the wrong side of it when the referee appeared to award Larnaca a penalty.
Fortunately for Palace fans, the VAR consultation had not ended and the penalty was in fact not awarded, with Walter Benitez instead taking a goal kick.
The job was almost done. And so it appeared was the drama, but there was still more to come as Jean-Phillippe Mateta was chopped down by what appeared to be a gruesome challenge from Petros Ioannou.
The refereee initially gave a yellow card before VAR upgraded it correctly to a red card, leaving Larnaca with nine men for the final moments.
They threw everything at the final moments but this time Palace had done enough, they were going through.
It was far from easy but the job was finally done and into the last eight go the Eagles - hopefully the next match will be less stressful.