Jorgen Strand Larsen's first Conference League goal secured Crystal Palace a 3-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in their semi-final first leg.

Ismaila Sarr had given Palace a dream start, before Shakhtar pulled level early in the second half at Synerise Arena in Krakow, but Oliver Glasner's side ultimately came away with a two-goal advantage ahead of next week's home leg.

Palace found a breakthrough with just 21 seconds on the clock; Jean-Philippe Mateta opened up space thanks to a one-two with Yeremy Pino before sliding it through to Sarr, who calmly slotted his shot across goal and into the bottom-right corner.

Adam Wharton saw two shots blocked shortly after, but from there, it was all Shakhtar, though the hosts were frustrated with Kaua Elias' wayward drive the only chance of note before the interval.

However, Shakhtar pulled level two minutes after half-time. A corner was flicked on by Elias, and Oleh Ocheretko stretched to poke it past Dean Henderson from close range.

That goal spurred Palace back to life, though, with Sarr and Mateta denied by a stunning Dmytro Riznyk double save before the latter struck the near post.

A long throw-in moments later saw Daichi Kamada score his first goal of the season as he guided his low shot through a sea of bodies and into the net 58 minutes in.

Palace weathered the Shakhtar pressure in the closing stages and caught the hosts out on the counter-attack with six minutes remaining, as Strand Larsen rounded his defender to fire past a helpless Riznyk.

Data Debrief: Quick off the mark

Sarr's opener, after just 21 seconds, was the earliest goal scored in Conference League history.

And it set the Eagles on their way to a huge result against Shakhtar, who struggled to break down Glasner's resolute side; only one of the hosts' 15 attempts hit the target.

Palace, by contrast, racked up 2.07 expected goals (xG) from their 10 shots, hitting the target with seven of those. Sarr was responsible for 1.08 xG from his three efforts.

Sarr has now scored eight goals in his 11 Conference League appearances this season, the most of any player among the semi-finalists - five of those have come in the knockout stages.