Crystal Palace kicked off their first full European campaign with a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in Poland on Thursday, in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Colombian wing-back Daniel Muñoz opened the scoring with a towering first-half header in Lublin, where Dynamo are hosting their European fixtures due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Eddie Nketiah doubled Palace’s lead shortly before the hour mark, converting a cross from the impressive Yeremy Pino. The win extended Palace’s unbeaten run to a club-record 19 matches.
However, Palace finished the game with 10 men after Borna Sosa was sent off for two quick yellow cards in the final 15 minutes.
The Eagles qualified for Europe after defeating Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup final but were relegated from the Europa League to the Conference League due to a breach of UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
This marks the club’s first full European campaign, with their only previous continental outing being a two-legged Intertoto Cup tie in 1998.
Now considered one of the favourites for the Conference League title, Palace will host AEK Larnaca of Cyprus in their next group fixture on October 23. They are also set to face AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands), Strasbourg (France), Shelbourne (Ireland), and KuPS (Finland) in the group stage.
AFP
