JAKARTA - English Premier League vice Crystal Palace failed to win when hosting KuPS in the UEFA Conference League match. Playing at home at Selhurst Park Stadium, Friday, December 19, 2025 WIB, Palace was only able to draw 2-2 so they had to play a playoff to get a ticket to the last 16.
Palace got a disappointing result after conceding a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in the English Premier League. In that match, Palace did appear with a different squad. However, they were unable to beat KuPS who played with 10 players from the 73rd minute.
Palace was only able to add one goal that tied the score because they were already behind 2-1. The draw finally thwarted Palace's attempt to improve their ranking to get an automatic ticket to the next round.
Yes, The Eagles failed to reach the last 8 because they only ranked 10th with 10 points. Oliver Glasner's team is only two points behind the team that qualified automatically.
Occupying that position makes Palace have to play a playoff. They will face the representative of Bosnia, Zrinjski Mostar or Sigma Olomouc.
Likewise with KuPS who occupy the 21st position with seven points. With this result, KuPS still has the opportunity to qualify for the 16 best if they win in the playoffs.
In that match, Glasner was forced to overhaul the squad. In fact, he fielded 11 different players because many players were injured. Meanwhile, Ismaila Sarr was absent because he was strengthening Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations.
In a bit of a state of emergency, Glasner called up three young players from the academy, Joel Drakes-Thomas who is still 16, Dean Benamar, and George King.
"We played well in the first half, especially the kids from the academy. They are not used to playing in a match of this level. As a result, they had cramps. But they showed a good performance and they are talented," Glasner said as quoted by Mail Online.
"This is a good match. Especially we can rest some of the pillar players. We have to make a change because they have to be ready two days later," said Glasner, who admitted that the Conference League match was not easy.
"We have to play a tough game to qualify," he said.
Palace who played in the home match actually started well. The match only lasted six minutes, they were ahead when Christiantus Uche managed to break the KuPS goal. The 1-0 lead lasted until the first half ended.
In the second half, Palace even struggled against the Finnish club's attack. The match only lasted five minutes, the home goal guarded by Walter Benitez was even conceded through Piotr Parzyszek's goal.
Even KuPS didn't take long to turn the tide. Just three minutes later, Ibrahim Cisse gave the visitors a 2-1 lead.
However, KuPS, who were already ahead, lost a player in the 73rd minute. Clinton Antwi made a hard tackle on Will Hughes.
Palace was able to use the advantage of the number of players by equalizing the score through Justin Devenny, four minutes later. However, they failed to add a goal so that the score remained 2-2 until the end of the match.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
