Crystal Palace made a stunning start to their Europa League campaign on Thursday, cruising to a 4-0 victory over Polish champions Lech Poznan at Selhurst Park.
Yéremy Pino opened the scoring in the 10th minute after capitalising on a poor throw-in from Terry Yegbe before racing through the defence and finishing neatly.
Palace doubled their advantage 17 minutes later when Chris Richards rose highest at the back post to head Adam Wharton’s corner beyond goalkeeper Mateusz Lis.
The hosts effectively settled the contest in the 35th minute after Pino was brought down in the box by Radoslaw Murawski.
Jørgen Strand Larsen stepped up and confidently converted the resulting penalty to make it 3-0.
Lech struggled to recover and were fortunate not to concede again before the break.
Mikael Ishak missed two good opportunities for the visitors, while Yegbe also came close when his effort found the side-netting.
Palace continued to control proceedings after the restart, with Strand Larsen and Quinten Timber among those threatening to extend the lead.
Lech’s night then went from bad to worse when Murawski was sent off for a reckless challenge on Jaydee Canvot.
Eddie Nketiah completed the rout in the 89th minute, adding a fourth goal shortly after Lech were reduced to 10 men.
The victory marked a memorable Europa League debut for Crystal Palace, who had been demoted to the Conference League last season because of UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
They went on to win that competition and secure their return to the Europa League.
