Glasner: Palace got 'what they deserved' after Conference League win
· Yahoo Sports
Departing boss Oliver Glasner felt Crystal Palace finally got "what they deserved" after beating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in Leipzig to win the Conference League and book a place in the Europa League next season.
It was the competition Palace initially thought they had qualified for after the Austrian, who managed his last Eagles match at the Red Bull Arena, led them to their first major silverware when they lifted the FA Cup in 2025, then the Community Shield.
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Then came disappointment in the form of a multi-club ownership conflict and a denied appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, ultimately demoting Palace to UEFA's third-tier continental competition.
Glasner, speaking after Jean-Philippe Mateta's second-half goal proved the winner in the 1-0 win, said: "You need great, talented football players, of course but you need great characters.
"So they deserve all the credit, and at the end it's now with a one-year delay at Crystal Palace. The players, the club, the supporters all get what they deserved last year after winning the FA Cup, and a spot in the Europa League."
Glasner in January announced he would depart Palace at the end of the season, and replied with a firm "no" when asked if the victory had inspired any doubts about his decision to leave.
The reality of the end of his tenure only set in, said the 51-year-old, who also led Eintracht Frankfurt to Europa League glory in 2022, at the final whistle.
Glasner slid face-first through a tunnel of his red-and-blue striped players before they ascended the victors' podium to collect their medals.
Some sections of those in attendance booed UEFA officials, including president Aleksander Ceferin, in the post-match ceremony.
But the feeling in Leipzig was overwhelmingly euphoric for a fanbase who have watched their club bounce back from the brink of administration to, in the span of Glasner's less-than two-and-a-half-year tenure, win three trophies and a major European title.
Mateta's goal was inspired by player-of-the-match Adam Wharton, who will once again leave some scratching their heads as to why he was omitted from England boss Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad.
It was his initial shot from range that stung the palms of Rayo keeper Augusto Batalla and fell into the path of the World Cup-bound France international, who poked it home and set Palace on their way to the Europa League.
Wharton, who was a fitness concern before this contest, later admitted that there was "a lot of doubt" about his ability to start, after having his "foot in an icebox for the last couple of days, just trying to get the swelling down."
"I couldn't really shoot fully," he confessed. "It wasn't very comfortable, but I'm not going to miss a final for a little swollen ankle."