Highlights: Palace reach Conference League final with famous win over Shakhtar
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The Eagles take on the Spanish side in the UEFA Conference League showpiece at 20:00 UK time on May 27, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.It will bring an end to Oliver Glasner’s reign as Crystal Palace head coach, the Austrian having succeeded Roy Hodgson at the Selhurst Park helm in February 2024.Glasner guided Crystal Palace to their first ever major piece of silverware as the south London side beat Manchester City in the 2025 FA Cup final.And they followed up domestic success with the Community Shield, getting the better of Liverpool on penalties last August.
Now, Glasner has the best possible opportunity to bow out on a high as head coach.
However, Palace are sweating on the fitness of key midfielder Adam Wharton after the England international appeared to sustain an ankle injury during the second half of Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Premier League champions Arsenal.
Glasner hails ‘electric’ Selhurst atmosphere after Crystal Palace reach UEFA Conference League final
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Wharton replaced Daichi Kamada at the break against The Gunners but was forced off on the hour-mark after a coming together with Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly.
The 22-year-old now has just 72 hours to recover in time for Wednesday’s meeting with Rayo Vallecano and Glasner has revealed that Crystal Palace will “wait and see” to determine the severity of the issue.
“His ankle is a bit sore,” Glasner said. “He [Wharton] always gives positive signals, but the real answer we’ll get tomorrow after he’s had one night of sleep.
“Hopefully it’s not too bad and he’s available Wednesday.”
‘We have to play better’
Glasner dropped a number of key players for the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal, with Maxence Lacroix, Jaydee Canvot, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Wharton among those to start on the bench.
Wednesday’s opponents, Rayo Vallecano, ended their domestic season with a 2-1 win at Alaves on Saturday, a result that extended their unbeaten run to nine games in all competitions.
And despite defeat to The Gunners, Glasner is confident that his players will put in a much-improved performance in Leipzig.
“We have to play better but will definitely play better on Wednesday,” Glasner added.
“We’ve started analysing Vallecano. We analysed them with the players, showed them how they will press us, what we need in possession, how we want to get pressure on them, how they are going to play.
“We had two intense sessions this week planning for Rayo Vallecano. Now it’s just about fine-tuning and making sure the players are fresh. We don’t want to change the players or the way we are playing.
Highlights: Rayo triumph over Strasbourg to set up Palace final
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“We are looking at Vallecano’s strengths and how we can eliminate this and we are looking at where we can exploit. But it’s a final and everything is possible.
“I just can say thank you to every player who contributed, when I think back to the development we’ve had over two years. I just want to say thank you to every single one of the staff who contributed. And of course, to our fans who always supported us, who always believed in us.
“They believed in us so we could see that everything is possible.”
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