Crystal Palace booked their place in the Conference League final following a 2-1 second-leg victory over Shakhtar Donetsk which sealed a 5-2 triumph on aggregate. 

After seeing Eguinaldo's strike cancel out Pedro Henrique's own-goal, Ismaila Sarr sealed the win early in the second half to send Palace to Leipzig on May 27, where they will take on LaLiga side Rayo Vallecano. 

After weathering Shakhtar's fast start, which saw Kaua Elias and Eguinaldo go close, Palace thought they had taken the lead in the 10th minute when Yeremy Pino raced onto Jean-Philippe Mateta's header before finishing, but the goal was ruled out for offside. 

However, the Eagles got themselves ahead 15 minutes later after Daniel Munoz's cross from the right was deflected into his own net by Pedro Henrique after Adam Wharton had forced a smart stop from Dmytro Riznyk. 

But Shakhtar hit back in some style through Eguinaldo, who collected Henrique's incisive pass before taking a touch and brilliantly finding the top-left corner in the 34th minute. 

Mateta then struck the right post with an acrobatic bicycle kick a minute before the break, but Palace retook the lead seven minutes after the restart through Sarr, who steered Tyrick Mitchell's cross in off the woodwork. 

Palace comfortably held on to their advantage in a second half of few chances, but the full-time whistle was greeted by huge cheers as Oliver Glasner was handed the opportunity to bring the curtain down on his Selhurst Park tenure with a trophy as the Eagles prepare to play in their first-ever European final.

Data Debrief: Superb Sarr seals Selhurst statement

Palace have enjoyed a fine run to the showpiece match, and Sarr has been key to that. He has scored in each of his last five games in the competition (six goals), with only Cedric Bakambu scoring in more successive knockout stage games in the competition's history (six games between 2024 and 2025).

The Eagles are also now unbeaten across their last six home games in the Conference League (W4 D2), but Shakhtar more than put up a fight against the Premier League side in what looked like it could have been a nervy affair. 

Shakhtar finished the match with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.04 from their 17 shots, six more than Palace, though the quality of the chances they created were much better with an xG value of 1.37.