Palace in Europe: How the semi-finals stand in the Conference League

First-team

1 May 2026

Crystal Palace produced a magnificent away performance to seize control of the UEFA Conference League semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday.

Ismaila Sarr scored the fastest goal in Conference League history for the dream start. And although Shakhtar levelled through Oleh Ocheretko, Daichi Kamada restored the lead before a brilliant finish from Jørgen Strand Larsen.

As Manager Oliver Glasner referenced after the win, the tie is far from over despite the 3-1 lead, the Palace boss saying: "I believe we have to perform even better at home to go to Leipzig to the final.”

However, here is no doubt the first step has been taken.

There was another semi-final taking place on Thursday evening – so which side, like Palace, holds the advantage as it stands?

Rayo take slender lead to France

Rayo Vallecano edged past Strasbourg in a tight and nervy semi-final in the Estadio de Vallecas.

Backed by feverish home support, the La Liga club failed to force a save from from Strasbourg goalkeeper Mike Penders in the opening 45 minutes, despite having more of the ball.

Strasbourg appeared to be settled with a stalemate, and also failed to register a shot on target in a tight first-half. But Vallecano came out with renewed energy after the break and were able to get the crucial breakthrough.

Brazilian forward Alemao met Isi Palazon's corner at the near post to score his third European goal of the season.

Defender Florian Lejeune nearly doubled the lead with a header, only for Penders to make a clutch save and push his header off the line.

Vallecano continued to press but were almost hit with a sucker punch when Strasbourg carved out their best chance of the second half in the 78th minute.

Emmanuel Emegha profited from a clever free-kick routine. He headed the ball into the path of Andrew Omobamidele, who took a touch before seeing his effort cleared off his boot as he prepared to shoot.

Vallecano held on to take the lead to France for the second leg. However, Strasbourg have previous this season when it comes to comebacks in Europe.

They overturned a two-goal deficit in the quarter-final second leg against FC Mainz to book their place in the last four and won't be giving up hope of Leipzig just yet.

Semi-final aggregate scores ahead of the second legs

Palace 3-1 Shakhtar
Strasbourg 0-1 Rayo Vallecano

The race for the Golden Boot

After opening the scoring just 21 seconds into our first leg tie with Shakhtar, Ismaïla Sarr is now level with Lech Poznań's Mikael Ishak and Samsunspor's Marius Mouandilmadji in the race for top scorer.

Sarr now has eight goals in this season's Conference League.

With the aforementioned players already eliminated and out of the competition, just one more goal will put Sarr in pole position to claim the tournament's top scorer award.

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