Crystal Palace lay down early Europa League marker with Lech Poznan thrashing

Crystal Palace made an impressive start to their debut Europa League campaign by sweeping aside Polish champions Lech Poznan 4-0. Yeremy Pino, Chris Richards and Jorgen Strand Larsen were on target in the first half before Eddie Nketiah fired a late fourth as Palace defied their disappointing Premier League form on a comfortable night at Selhurst Park. Lech finished with 10 men after Radoslaw Murawski was sent off for a reckless bodycheck on Jaydee Canvot and moments later Nketiah put the finishing touch to a conclusive win. Palace’s first appearance in the Europa League came a year after they were kicked out of the competition due to a breach of multi-club ownership rules, with Uefa demoting them to the Conference League . They duly won that, thereby securing their return to the Europa League, and they continued to show theie taste for continental action against opponents who have made a strong start to their Polish title defence. Boss Pierre Sage named an unchanged team despite Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat by Ipswich and was rewarded by seeing victory wrapped up with just over half an hour on the clock. Yeremy Pino got the ball rolling for Palace (Getty) And the match was over as a contest by half-time (Reuters) For all three first-half goals Lech had a hand in their own downfall, the most startling of their errors arriving in the 10th minute when Terry Yegbe sent a throw-in straight to the feet of Pino. Pino darted between a defence that had been caught by surprise by Yegbe’s blunder before the opportunistic Spanish forward produced a precise finish. Palace next exploited a static visiting defence when Richards leapt to meet Adam Wharton ’s corner at the back post and headed the ball through the hands of goalkeeper Mateusz Lis. It was all sewn up in the 35th minute through an unstoppable Strand Larsen penalty awarded after Pino had been brought down by Murawski. Chris Richards produced an unstoppable header (Reuters) The hapless Yegbe then unwittingly deflected the ball into his own net from 25 yards amid confusion in the Lech defence, but Strand Larsen was offside and the Ghana centre-back looked skywards in gratitude at being spared responsibility for a second Palace goal. Lech had their moments in the first half but striker Mikael Ishak wasted two fine chances while Yegbe found the side-netting. Richards timed to perfection a tackle on Allahyar Sayyadmanesh as the Iranian winger raced towards goal, but Palace continued to dominate early in the second half with Strand Larsen and the busy Quinten Timber threatening.