Oliver Glasner has prepared his players thoroughly to face Rayo Vallecano in the first European final for both clubs – but the Austrian hopes they will be in a playful mood for his last game in charge.
A 2021/22 Europa League winner with Eintracht Frankfurt, Glasner could win his second trophy with the Eagles following their FA Cup triumph last season as the team who came 15th in the Premier League take on the eighth-placed finishers in Spain.
“We’ve shown many, many games from La Liga and the Conference League when they’ve played against a back three, against a back four and when they had more or less possession,” Glasner said of the Vallecano footage he has watched with his squad, speaking after touching down in Leipzig on Tuesday.
“I hope nobody goes into a bar but I’m pretty sure they won’t. They can sleep for quite long [on Wednesday] and then we’ll play head tennis.
“It’s a long day and the 30 minutes when the players play head tennis is one of the best moments for me, because I see kids playing football and they have so much fun.
“Everybody wants to win but they are laughing and joking and I’m sitting there watching with a big smile. They always get a good feeling.
“I hope they’re loving [the day] and joking, not calm and introverted because they are nervous. They should be how they are and who they are, and then they have the best chance of a good performance.”
Rayo Vallecano won 2-1 at Alaves on Saturday to extend their unbeaten run to nine matches in all competitions, with 38-year-old Inigo Perez hoping to join Aston Villa’s Unai Emery, Barcelona’s Pere Romeu and Paris Saint-Germain’s Luis Enrique or Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta among Spanish coaches to have won major European club trophies this month.
“They’re the toughest team in the competition and favourites to win the title,” sporting director David Cobeno told AS of Palace.
“It would have been difficult to knock them out over two legs, but anything can happen in a final. We can win it – and we’re going for it.
“There have been some very good, historic Rayo teams, but this one is achieving things that no other team has ever achieved in the club’s history.
“Staying in the top flight for six consecutive years is no mean feat for a team like ours, and reaching the final of a European competition will be difficult to repeat.
“I believe this is indeed the best Rayo team in history.”
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Crystal Palace v Rayo Vallecano team news
Palace centre-back Chris Richards is a doubt after tearing two ligaments in his ankle, with Glasner calling the injury “stable but quite swollen”.
Adam Wharton made a brief cameo appearance in the 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal on Sunday before making way with an ankle issue that Glasner hopes the influential midfielder will recover from.
Ilias Akhomach is a doubt for Rayo Vallecano with a problem the on-loan Villarreal winger sustained during the warm-up before their semi-final second leg against Strasbourg.
Alvaro Garcia, who has three goals in this season’s competition, has returned from injury. The winger is the club’s second-top scorer in the Conference League behind Alemao, who has netted four times.
Crystal Palace v Rayo Vallecano predicted line-ups
Crystal Palace starting XI: Dean Henderson; Nathaniel Clyne, Maxence Lacroix, Jaydee Canvot; Daniel Munoz, Adam Wharton, Daichi Kamada, Tyrick Mitchell; Ismaila Sarr, Yeremy Pino; Jean-Philippe Mateta
Rayo Vallecano starting XI: Augusto Batalla; Andrei Ratiu, Florian Lejeune, Pathe Ciss, Pep Chavarria; Oscar Valentin, Unai Lopez, Isi Palazon, Alvaro Garcia, Jorge de Frutos; Alemao
Where to watch Palace v Rayo: TV channel, live online streams
Kick-off on Wednesday is at 20:00 BST (15:00 ET / 12:00 PT). Live TV coverage in the UK is on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate.
Streaming is on the HBO Max app. TNT Sports costs £30.99 a month and is available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles.
Crystal Palace v Rayo Vallecano stats
- This is Palace’s second season in European competition and first since their 1998 Intertoto Cup campaign, losing 2-0 home and away against Samsunspor in the third round
- Palace are the third English club – all from London – to reach the Conference League final, after West Ham (2022/23) and Chelsea (2024/25), who both went on to lift the trophy
- They are aiming to become the 12th different English club to win a major UEFA men’s club competition after Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Ipswich, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham and West Ham
- The Eagles have lost only three of their 16 Conference League matches this season (W9 D4)
- With 25 goals, Palace are the top scorers in this season’s Conference League (league phase to final) and have three more than nearest rivals Rayo Vallecano (22)
- Ismaila Sarr has scored in Palace’s last five Conference League matches (six goals in total) and is the top scorer in the competition proper this season with nine goals
- Yeremy Pino was the youngest Spanish player to start a major European final, aged 18 years 218 days, when he won the 2020/21 Europa League with Villarreal
- Daichi Kamada scored in the penalty shoot-out as Eintracht Frankfurt beat Rangers in the 2021/22 Europa League final
- Rayo Vallecano have lost only four of their last 20 European matches (W14 D2)
- Their only previous European campaign took them to the quarter-finals of the 2000/01 UEFA Cup, losing to fellow Spanish side Alaves 4-2 on aggregate (3-0 away, 2-1 at home)
- That means they have reached their first UEFA final in their second season of European competition
- Real Betis became the first Spanish team to reach the Conference League final, losing 1-4 to Chelsea last season
- Rayo coach Inigo Perez came on as a substitute as Athletic Club lost 3-0 to Atletico Madrid in the 2011/12 Europa League final
- In his first UEFA campaign in charge, Perez could become the second Spanish coach to win the Conference League after Jose Luis Mendilibar’s 2023/24 triumph with Olympiacos
- Brazilian forward Alemao scored the only goal in each leg of Rayo’s semi-final against Strasbourg, in what was the first meeting between Spanish and French teams in the Conference League proper
Crystal Palace v Rayo Vallecano prediction
Crystal Palace 2-0 Rayo Vallecano
Palace are warm favourites and Vallecano may need to shut out the top scorers in this season’s competition if they are to cause an upset. Perez’s side have netted one goal or less in four of their last five Conference League matches and were the second-lowest scorers of any team not to be relegated in this season’s Liga.
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