Glasner praises Palace for Fiorentina win and says Eagles ‘could have scored four’
Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace won 3-0 against their Italian rivals on Thursday
Crystal Palace produced a dominant performance in the first leg to beat Fiorentina 3-0 at Selhurst Park and set themselves up for next week’s Conference League quarter-final second leg in Florence.
Jean-Philippe Mateta broke the deadlock on 24 minutes, his first goal since New Year’s Day, before Tyrick Mitchell doubled the lead seven minutes later.
Ismaila Sarr put the gloss on it deep in the interval to send Palace into the return leg with as comfortable a cushion as the competition has to offer.
Manager Oliver Glasner spoke harshly of what he saw, particularly in the opening and final periods of the game.
“The most important thing for me was to perform well, in the first half and let’s say the last 20 minutes,” Glasner told TNT Sports.
“Good performance, amazing, great pressure, good play and always attacking the box, balls at the back. We knew they were very close but we were getting in behind and created a lot of chances which was nice to see.”
Glasner Frustrated Despite Result
The result wasn’t the only thing on Glasner’s mind. The blow in the second half when Palace lost control of the game clearly angered him, and he did not hold anything in the phone call or in his post-match examination.
“We lost the ball easily and quickly, the game was out of control – it was up and down. When you are 2-0 up you have to get more control,” he said.
“We easily lost four or five balls and that gave Fiorentina momentum. I was happy to see that we didn’t get frustrated against a very good Italian team, we kept our heads up and knew we could get the momentum back. In the end we were very close to scoring the fourth goal and it was a good performance.”
Richards Eyes the Final
Defender Chris Richards spoke with quiet confidence in front of the cameras, reflecting the state of a Palace dressing room that knows it has one foot in the bottom four.
“Anytime you keep a clean sheet, it helps everybody,” Richards said. “The top guys always help the team and to get three goals is great.
“There were a lot of tired legs out there until the end, it’s good in the dressing room right now, it’s good to have everyone back together after the international break, it’s light but we know we have a big game on Sunday against Newcastle and obviously next Thursday.
The American defender did not avoid what the desire within the team looks like.
“Yes, we want to reach the finals, but we understand that there is another leg we have to play and we have to get the job done,” he said.
The second leg will take place in Florence next Thursday. Palace will travel there with three goals to their credit and will fancy their chances of progressing to the final four.
