Needing to score against a side who had kept six clean sheets in seven previous UEFA Conference League matches this season, Palace did so – twice – to secure a place in the last eight of the competition.
Whilst Palace’s victory was hard-fought, the result – progression to the quarter-finals – was the main thing, with Lacroix and his teammates remaining patient in pursuit of their winning goals.
“A long day, but a really important win,” was Lacroix’s assessment, speaking to Palace TV. “I think we deserved it.
“You can see with the statistics that we shoot a lot, but they played really well, to be honest. And until the very end, we kept on going, so it’s perfect.
“This is the thing that we’ve learned a lot: to be patient, to wait for the good passes, the good runs and the good moments in front of goal.
“To be honest, they did very well defensively. It was not easy, but in the end, we scored two beautiful goals.
“We could’ve scored three or four, but we didn’t take the chances – we’ll take them against Fiorentina.”