{"id":669054,"date":"2026-05-28T00:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T00:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/669054\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T00:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T00:15:08","slug":"crystal-palace-win-conference-league-after-mateta-strike-sinks-rayo-vallecano-conference-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/669054\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystal Palace win Conference League after Mateta strike sinks Rayo Vallecano | Conference League"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being denied their rightful place in this season\u2019s Europa League, Crystal Palace<\/a> finally have their revenge. In Oliver Glasner\u2019s final match in charge, it was fitting that Jean-Philippe Mateta should score what turned out to be the winning goal after his January move to Milan was scuppered by a failed medical. It has been that kind of season.<\/p>\n

Having rescued the south London club from the brink of extinction only 16 years ago, how Steve Parish must have relished this occasion. The Palace chair found himself sitting next to the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, for the biggest night in their history and he can now start planning for the Europa League campaign that was denied to them as last year\u2019s FA Cup winners were adjudged to have broken European football\u2019s governing body\u2019s rules on multi-club ownership. As for Glasner, who performed a full-length dive on the pitch before going up to collect his winners\u2019 medal, it ends any debate over whether he is the greatest manager in Palace\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Having been second best in the first half, he must take great credit for the way his side seized the initiative and can now ride off into the sunset with a third trophy in the space of just 12 months. Surely a top club will snap him up soon enough.<\/p>\n

The streets of Leipzig were a sea of red, blue and white in the daytime as fans from both sides enjoyed the sunshine, with many of the 15,000 Palace supporters in town replicating the march to the stadium that brought them good luck in last year\u2019s FA Cup final against Manchester City.<\/p>\n

Thankfully there was no repeat of the unsavoury scenes on Tuesday when local police said 60 Palace fans classed as \u201cknown troublemakers\u201d were ordered to leave the city centre following clashes with their Rayo counterparts. Both sets of supporters unveiled huge tifos before kick-off, with Palace\u2019s referencing their long journey from being rescued from administration by Parish in 2010 to last season\u2019s first major trophy. \u201cLiquidation cancelled, FA Cup landed, Europa League boarding,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

Crystal Palace fans unveil a giant tifo before kick-off. Photograph: Maryam Majd\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Glasner opted not to risk Chris Richards from the start after he failed to recover from torn ankle ligaments, with the USA captain on the bench as Chadi Riad took his place. There was better news that Adam Wharton was fit to start after limping off against Arsenal<\/a> at the weekend, while Rayo\u2019s influential Morocco winger Ilias Akhomach was one of only eight outfield players named on the bench along with the 38-year-old club legend \u00d3scar Trejo in his last match.<\/p>\n

Given that it was the Spanish side\u2019s first final in their 102-year history, Palace were in the unusual position of being favourites \u2013 their budget is more than the three other teams who reached the semi-finals of this competition.<\/p>\n

It looked like they could be in for a long night after a cagey start where there was little quality on show. Path\u00e9 Ciss was shown a yellow card in the 20th minute for bringing down a charging Yeremy Pino when the Italian referee, Maurizio Mariani, decided there was a covering defender between him and the goal. Isi Palaz\u00f3n also went into the book before the first sight of goal when Jaydee Canvot \u2013 the French teenager switched to the right of Palace\u2019s back three to cover Richards\u2019 absence \u2013 was caught out of position. Thankfully for him, Alem\u00e3o could not hit the target from Palaz\u00f3n\u2019s excellent cross.<\/p>\n

Rayo were dominating possession and went close again after a flying move down their right flank when Unai L\u00f3pez curled wide. Palace struggled to create anything until the second minute of stoppage time when Tyrick Mitchell somehow failed to hit the target with a header from Wharton\u2019s inch-perfect pass. Glasner could hardly believe it went wide and headed down the tunnel at the break deep in thought.<\/p>\n

Jean-Philippe Mateta scores the only goal of the game, early in the second half. Photograph: Markus Schreiber\/AP<\/p>\n

His side were almost unrecognisable when they emerged for the second half. Mateta had almost got on the end of a cross from Mitchell moments before Wharton strode forward and unleashed a shot that the Rayo goalkeeper, Augusto Batalla, could only parry. Mateta somehow managed to keep the rebound down with an instinctive finish and was joined by Canvot and several other players in performing his trademark corner-flag-kicking celebration to the delight of the Palace fans. Their joy was almost doubled straight away when Pino\u2019s brilliant free-kick struck both posts before Mateta again hit the woodwork with the follow-up. Batalla then came to Rayo\u2019s rescue by diverting Mateta\u2019s shot from a Pino pass just wide.<\/p>\n

They were hanging on by their fingernails. The Rayo manager, I\u00f1igo P\u00e9rez, emptied his bench and tried to lay siege to the Palace goal. But they could not find a way past Maxence Lacroix and co.<\/p>\n

There were tears among both sets of fans as the seconds ticked away and Rayo\u2019s supporters unveiled a second tifo after the full-time whistle that read: \u201cI know no greater victory than to be with you in defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after 120 years without winning a trophy, once again it was Palace and their jubilant supporters who were left pinching themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being denied their rightful place in this season\u2019s Europa League, Crystal Palace finally have their revenge. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-669054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}