Casey reflected on the performance: “I think it was an amazing performance from the team. We worked hard as a team as well.
“The communication was good, we competed for second balls and we looked out for each other as well. At the end of the day, football is a team game – it’s not individual – and I think what we did today was play as a team, and we got the result that we wanted.”
“So yeah, it was an overall great performance from the team.”
With five minutes of the half remaining, Palace doubled their lead. Dylan Reid’s free-kick was initially headed clear, but after a series of aerial challenges the ball dropped into the path of Walker-Smith, who cleverly hooked it over the Gladbach backline.
Casey reacted sharply, meeting it with a sweet half-volley from close range to claim his third goal of the competition.
He talked us through the goal amid the extremely testing conditions: “I just knew that when the ball came to Charlie – he’s been playing with me for quite a while now – and he knows that when it comes to those positions, I always like to run off the back of defenders.
“It was a nice little pass from him, and I just had to gauge the height of the ball. Once the ball came down, I was like, ‘I’m just going to hit it,’ and I hit it perfectly and it went in. So I was just happy – it was good.”
Casey boasts an impressive three goals and one assist in the International Cup group stages.
On what he loves about the competition: “Just playing against different teams from different places is a great experience, and I want to show what I can do against those teams.
“I’ve shown that by scoring three goals, so it’s been great. I love it, I love the competition, and I’m happy that we’re going through to the knockout stages now, so it was good.”
