Crystal Palace are halfway to their first ever European final after their match against Shakhtar Donetsk. The atmosphere was electric at Selhurst Park before kick-off as Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ blared out.
The Palace Fanatics in the Holmesdale Road end waved hundreds of red and blue flags. Flame-throwers added to the spectacle on the other side of the ground. Everyone clapped and sang the club anthem ‘Glad All Over’.
VAR Denies Palace a Second Goal
Crystal Palace increased their advantage in the Conference League semi-final, or so they thought. A long ball from Chris Richards was headed on for Yeremy Pino by Jean-Philippe Mateta. The Spaniard raced through on goal before slotting past Dmytro Riznyk.
However, there was a VAR check for offside. Replays showed Yeremy Pino was offside when Jean-Philippe Mateta nodded it onto him by the finest of margins. The goal was disallowed.
For a brief moment everyone thought the tie was all over. Shakhtar Donetsk got a reprieve after Yeremy Pino was judged offside. The disallowed goal nudged the already loud home fans up a bit more.
Shakhtar’s Early Pressure and a Yellow Card
Shakhtar Donetsk began the second leg on the front foot. Kaua Elias, one of the seven Brazilians in the Ukrainian side’s starting line-up, flashed a shot wide. Just moments later, another chance fell for the Brazilian who did better this time and tested Dean Henderson, but the forward was flagged offside.
There was an early stoppage in play as Oleh Ocheretko, who scored Shakhtar’s only goal in the first leg, was down receiving treatment. He went up for an aerial ball with Daniel Munoz but caught a boot to the face from the Palace wing-back.
Valerii Bondar received the first yellow card of the game for a crunching tackle on Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Palace’s Strategy and Shakhtar’s Tempo
Crystal Palace finally managed to produce a sustained spell of possession for the first time. However, the Shakhtar defence held firm. Shakhtar Donetsk have a bit more tempo than Palace, who are easing themselves into the game.
According to Lucy Ward on TNT Sports, Shakhtar have to put pressure on, so there is space to attack. That is the way that Crystal Palace are going to get a goal in this game. She added that Palace came away with a really good result and managed the game very well.
Palace don’t need the bal