Crystal Palace face testing route to Conference League final after play-off draw

Crystal Palace’s route to the Uefa Conference League final has been partially revealed after the Eagles were drawn on the silver side of the bracket for the knockout rounds.

Oliver Glasner’s side finished 10th in the league phase and missed out on an automatic spot in the round of 16 meaning they must first progress through a two-legged play-off.

Palace won just three of their six league games and notched up 10 points with one draw and two defeats coming from the other three fixtures. It meant they entered the play-off draw as one of the seeded teams and were subsequently drawn against HSK Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Zrinjski finished 23rd in the table with two wins, one draw and three defeats but Glasner will be confident his team can progress through the play-off and reach the last-16.

At that point things will become more testing for the London side who are aiming to emulate Chelsea’s victorious Conference League from last season.

In the round of 16, Palace know they will face either AEK Larnaca FC from Cyprus or Bundesliga side Mainz but their opponents will only be known following the knockout round draw on 27 February.

Looking further ahead to the quarter-final stage, which is a realistic goal for Palace given their proposed opposition, and they will face one of four possible opponents: Serie A’s Fiorentina, Poland’s Jagiellonia and Rakow Czestochowa or Ligue 1’s Strasbourg. The latter two of which finished second and first in the league table respectively.

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Fiorentina, who finished below Palace in 15th, take on Jagiellonia in their own play-off match before facing either Rakow Czestochowa or Strasbourg in the last-16.

Other results of note from the play-off round draw include Swiss side Lausanne vs Czech club SK Sigma Olomouc and AZ Alkmaar of the Eredivisie taking on FC Noah from the Armenian Premier League.

These ties will be played across two legs with the fixtures taking place on February 19 and February 26. The seeded teams, including Palace, will play their home tie in the second legs. The official calendar for the ties will be released on 30 January.

Here’s the play-off round draw in full: