KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Oliver Glasner will be enshrined as the greatest manager in the 121-year history of Crystal Palace if they follow up on last year’s FA Cup triumph then the Community Shield by winning their first European prize in Leipzig against Rayo Vallecano.

Palace are favourites. However, for all their European endeavours, they were without a win in their last seven Premier League games and finished 15th, six points above the relegation zone. Their only fitness concern ahead of the final concerns star midfielder Adam Wharton, who had to be substituted in Sunday’s home defeat by newly-crowned champions Arsenal with an ankle injury.

Wharton had appeared himself only as a halftime substitute since Glasner had started with a team of reserves to keep most of his regulars fresh for Leipzig. His only main issue of choice concerns whether Jorgen Strand Larsen or Jean-Philippe Mateta should lead the attack. Mateta was a late-second-half substitute for the Norwegian against Arsenal.

Palace are appearing in their first European final and, as Glasner emphasised, many of his players were new to the continental experience.

He said: “This will be our 17th game of the Conference League and our 60th game of the season. Many of our players haven’t played European football before, and we needed all these games, all these experiences to progress and develop. When we started this competition, getting into the final was always the goal but now it’s not just playing a final. When you play a final, you want to win it.

“For me winning this final would be a perfect ending.”

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