Crystal Palace sealed a blistering 4-0 win over Lech Poznan as they made a sparkling Europa League debut.
Pierre Sage’s side – Europa Conference League winners last term – inflicted most of the damage on the Polish side in the first half, scoring three times before the break.
It was a night of pure domination for the hosts as Poznan ended the match with ten men late on. And there was still time for a fourth goal as Palace added gloss.
Yeremy Pino took advantage of an awful throw from the visitors inside ten minutes as he raced onto the ball and finished in style.
Then, Chris Richards doubled the advantage as he headed home from an Adam Wharton corner. A third arrived before the interval and that effectively killed the game as a contest after Radoslaw Murawski conceded a penalty for felling Pino, which Jorgen Strand Larsen confidently tucked away.
Much of the second half was forgettable but right near the end the visitors went down to ten men when the hapless Murawski was shown a second booking. And Eddie Nketiah took advantage when he produced a tidy finish in the latter stages to make it 4-0 and add the cherry on the cake.
It was pretty much the perfect night for Palace, who even saw a glimpse of star man Ismaila Sarr. The Senegalese came on for the final 15 minutes for his first taste of football this season after an injury knock and following a proposed move to Liverpool that fell through.
Palace midfielder Wharton reflected on a memorable night for the club, saying: “There’s still a lot to work on, it’s still early days and there’s lots of new signings. We are trying to gel as fast as we can. It has been a slow start but tonight was a great step forward. There were still some moments we could be tighter at the back but definitely a step in the right direction.
“The manager is very attack-minded; he wants us to get high up. In training we are working on those patterns and I think there were a few good moments where we played one-touch play and it is good to see that starting to gel.
“When you are on the front you get the crowd behind you as well and on nights like these getting the crowd behind you helps. It pushed us on.
“Last year was completely new for a lot of the players. It is a different game to the Premier League, a different intensity. In this it is sometimes a bit more tactical. Coming into this season with the experience from last season is only going to help us.”
Palace will now prepare for Sunday’s trip to Leeds United before the elongated international break.
