As for his own campaign, Richards has been a near ever-present in Palace’s ground-breaking 2025/26 season so far, failing to feature in just eight of the Eagles’ 50 matches played in all competitions thus far.
With seven Premier League games left to go, and at least two more – hopefully three – in Europe, the United States international feels he and his teammates have benefitted from the experience of the rigorous campaign.
“\[In Europe\] you have to sometimes adapt to different playing styles, different countries, how they play, different referees…” he reflected. “Everything's different to the Prem.
“It's different things that you have to learn, and it's only experience that you can gain by playing in Europe, so every game, regardless of if we won, lost or drew, was a learning experience, and we’ll be taking that into the next round.
“Shakhtar \[Donetsk\] in the semis – it’s exciting! If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Our next challenge is beating Shakhtar. They've done really well. They deserve a semi-final as well, so if we go in there and give them two hard games we’ll hopefully come out on top.
“My job is go out there and put in good performances for this club and if it results in history, then so be it. But we're trying not to look too far ahead. We do understand this is our first time playing in Europe, and being able to bring a semi-final to Selhurst will be amazing.
“Hopefully we can give the fans a win and progress to the next round. But every chapter, every game that we play, has been history for Crystal Palace.“
### **Match Details**
**Crystal Palace v West Ham United**