Crystal Palace justified their Conference League favourites tag. The Premier League outfit dominated the first-leg quarter-final, beating Fiorentina 3-0. Meanwhile, FSV Mainz also recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over RC Strasbourg.
Crystal Palace 3-0 Fiorentina
After 20 minutes, Palace were awarded a penalty when Fiorentina defender Dodo fouled inside his own box. Jean-Philippe Mateta stepped up and sent David de Gea the wrong way: 1-0.
Dodo then inadvertently played on, ruling out offside and allowing Tyrick Mitchell to tap in after Mateta’s initial effort had been blocked.
In the dying moments, Palace added a third as Ismaïla Sarr finished off Daichi Kamada’s pass, turning the return leg into a formality: 3-0.
FSV Mainz 05 2-0 RC Strasbourg
Mainz started brightly against Strasbourg, with Dutch international Emanuel Emegha—recently returned from injury—beginning on the bench. Kaishu Sano, brother of Eredivisie star Kodai Sano, opened the scoring with a superb strike into the top corner: 1-0.
Shortly afterwards, the Germans doubled their advantage. Stefan Posch met a Paul Nebel corner and had the time and space to finish convincingly: 2-0.
After the break, Emegha came on for the French side and the former Sparta player saw Valentín Barco fire a thunderous strike that crashed off the underside of the crossbar. The attack lived on and Emegha was picked out, but his header drifted wide. Strasbourg must now produce a significant turnaround in the return leg.