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Crystal Palace √ aek larnaca thu 12 mar 2026 | 8:00pm k.o. Directors Chairman Steve Parish, David Blitzer, Joshua Harris, Woody Johnson
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Chief Executive Officer
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Sharon Lacey Chief Financial Officer Mitesh Velani Chief Commercial Officer Barry Webber Academy Director Gary Issott Director of U21 Development Mark Bright General Counsel David Nichol Head of Football Operations Karl Eccleston Head of Ticketing Paul McGowan Head of Retail Foz Bowers
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21 04 manager
Head of Marketing Matt Franks Head of Safeguarding
08 chairman
Laura Baptiste Head Groundsman
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Bruce Elliott
Editor Jack Lacey-Hatton Design Billy Cooke, Stu Ellmer, Joe Hardingham, James Heels
10 dean gordon 21 aek larnaca 30 Talking tactics
Contributors Robin Johnson,
36 conference catch-up
Ed Dowling, Joe Turner, Ian King, Patrick Rosanio Photography Neil Everitt, Peter Hurn, Sebastian Frej, Pinnacle Photo Agency, Kontent Haus, Getty Printer Bishops Printers
38 palace phrasebook
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50 continental quiz 51 from the terraces
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Manager
oliver glasner Welcome back to Selhurst Park, and welcome to the AEK Larnaca staff and players.
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ast week’s win over Tottenham was another very important result. The players showed great mental resilience because we believed we had taken the lead, had the goal disallowed and then went behind. But our reaction was amazing. We played forward and scored some amazing goals. In the second-half we probably didn’t control the game as much as we’d have liked. This is something we are still having to learn, keeping the focus high in every phase of the game, and valuing our defensive work. When you have one player more, sometimes it’s easier to forget this. If we can keep our intensity high defensively across the 90…100 minutes, we’ll see further progress. We had to deal with the early loss of Daniel Muñoz in the Tottenham game, but Nathaniel Clyne once again stepped in and showed what a reliable performer he is. If he plays again tonight it will be his 250th appearance for Crystal Palace – a fantastic achievement. One of his biggest strengths is his ability to always be ready when we need him. Whatever position he has played, whether at right wing-back, left wing-back or centre-back, he is always consistent,
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The players showed great mental resilience because we believed we had taken the lead, had the goal disallowed and then went behind. But our reaction was amazing. We played forward and scored some amazing goals
Manager
I think all the experiences we’ve had in Europe so far this season will help us tonight, as will your amazing backing from the stands. Thank you again for your support and I look forward to seeing you this evening
bringing value to the team. His experience helps a lot, and he was able to show this again last week. Tonight is the first of two legs where we have a real opportunity to progress to the last eight of the competition. Obviously it will feel different playing the first game at Selhurst Park, but without the away goals rule I don’t think this is important. The players know it will take two good performances to get through to the next round.
One of his biggest strengths is his ability to always be ready when we need him. Whatever position he has played, whether at right wing-back, left wing-back or centre-back, he is always consistent, bringing value to the team
that was in the 94th minute against BK Hacken. They are a very experienced team with quite a few players older than 30. This means they have a lot of football intelligence, which they showed against us last time. We know we’ll face a team who won’t make it easy for us tonight. But it was the same against Zrinjski Mostar in the last round. We stayed patient and waited for our chances. It will be the same in this game. We also have to show good balance on our transitions. I think all the experiences we’ve had in Europe so far this season will help us tonight, as will your amazing backing from the stands. Thank you again for your support and I look forward to seeing you this evening
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Larnaca have already shown they can do well in this competition. When we played them in the league phase I thought our performance was ok. We were very dominant, but then made one mistake and lost. They only conceded once in the league phase and
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