Crystal Palace players won the Conference League after beating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in the final in Leipzig.
In the fifth edition of the Conference League, we got the fifth different winner. After Roma, West Ham, Olympiakos and Chelsea, the Crystal Palace footballers succeeded in winning the throne.
The deciding goal was scored in the 51st minute, and the scorer was Jean-Philippe Mateta. Great credit for the goal goes to i To Adam Wharton who pulled the ball almost from the center to the penalty area, and then shot brilliantly, Batalla saved, and Mateta cleared the rebound into the goal.
Borna Sauce he did not play for the London team, but he became the first Croatian football player who won the Conference League.
For Crystal Palace, it is the first European trophy in the club’s history, and the third trophy in the last 12 months. In May 2025, they won the FA Cup, and in August last year, they won the FA Community Shield.
Palace is also the second English club to win the European trophy this season after the celebration Aston Villa in the European League. The highlight of the club’s season is on Saturday, when defending champions PSG and Arsenal will play in the Champions League final in Budapest.
Rayo Vallecano’s footballers can only take solace in the fact that they have already reached the final the greatest success in the history of the club.
In the first half we watched a solid and quite cautious game with very few opportunities. The defensive play and the run stifled any creative action. First, the historic final for both clubs obviously held the players back. Let’s add that in the first 45 minutes, not a single team sent a single shot into the frame of the goal.
The London team had the best chance in the first half in stoppage time, when Wharton sent a great ball to Tyrick Mitchell, who shot a header from five or six meters, but it missed the right post.
After an even first half, the continuation brought a much better game. The English team took the lead already in the sixth minute of the resumption with a goal by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Great credit for the goal also had Adam Wharton who pulled almost from the center to the penalty area with a great shot, Batalla saved, and Mateta cleared the rebound into the goal. Just five minutes later it could have been 2-0. Yeremi Pino shot a great free kick hitting the post, from which the ball bounced into the second post.
In the 57th minute, Mateta also had a great opportunity, but Batalla deflected it into the corner. In the 59th minute, Rayo threatened with a shot from Alemao, but Henderson was ready. Ray’s coach Inigo Perez tried to improve his team with changes, he introduced five new players, but without any major progress in the game.
The match was briefly interrupted in the 36th minute after one of the fans had health problems.
(Hina | Photo: Crystal Palace)
