English
AEK Larnaca Shocks Crystal Palace with Narrow Victory at Selhurst Park
London, October 23, 2025 – AEK Larnaca surprised Crystal Palace on their own turf, Selhurst Park, with a minimal victory in the match corresponding to the second day of the group stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League. Despite Crystal Palace’s clear superiority in ball possession (67% compared to AEK Larnaca’s 33%) and an evident territorial dominance, the Cypriot team proved to be more effective in front of goal.
The match remained scoreless until the 51st minute, when R. Bajic, assisted by M. Rohden, managed to beat the local goalkeeper, unleashing euphoria among the visiting fans. Crystal Palace, although generating numerous scoring opportunities (15 shots in total), only managed to direct one of them on goal, showing a lack of precision in the attack.
The match was hard-fought and tense, reflected in the numerous fouls committed by both teams (16 by Crystal Palace and 15 by AEK Larnaca). The Polish referee, Damian Kos, was forced to show yellow cards to P. Pons and M. Rohden for AEK Larnaca, and to J. Mateta and E. Nketiah for Crystal Palace.
Despite Crystal Palace’s efforts to equalize, the AEK Larnaca defense remained firm and organized, frustrating the English team’s attempts. The victory allows AEK Larnaca to add three valuable points on their way to qualifying in the Europa Conference League.
Substitutions aek larnaca: at minute 19 Y. Chacon came in and D. Ivanovic went out., at minute 79 P. Pons came in and Jimmy Suarez went out., at minute 79 R. Bajic came in and K. Angielski went out.
Substitutions crystal palace: at minute 60 J. Canvot came in and E. Nketiah went out., at minute 71 J. Lerma came in and D. Kamada went out., at minute 71 Y. Pino came in and A. Wharton went out., at minute 87 W. Hughes came in and R. Esse went out., at minute 87 I. Sarr came in and C. Uche went out.
The teams lined up as follows:
Crystal Palace
Titulares:
AEK Larnaca
Titulares:
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