Glasner's take on Palace's second leg task overshadowed by bleak assessment from Fiorentina boss

Post match press briefing with Oliver Glasner : Picture by @YTJourno

The Eagle are flying.

Oliver Glasner's men turned in their best performance of a sometimes stuttering Conference League campaign to claim a 3-0 win over Fiorentina on a heady Selhurst Park night.

It means next Thursday's return in Florence ought to be a formality given the obvious disparity in ability. The Eagles, looking fresh and motivated again after a three-week break from competitive action, were dominant and almost made it 4-0 at the end.

By contrast, La Viola only created a couple of good chances and struggled to deal with the pace and power the Eagles were able to call upon all over the pitch.

"Physically and tactically, our opponents played at a very high level," said Fiorentina boss Paolo Vanoli.

"At 3-0, we have a 10 per cent chance to qualify. There is a gap between the two leagues and the speed and chances they were making.

"The 14th ranked team in Italy played the 15th ranked team in England and there is a gap, though we will try our best to play our best football in the return."

It was a gloomy take but probably realistic given what we saw. Not that the Palace boss was about to fall into the trap of agreeing his side are 90 per cent sure of qualifying for the semi-finals of this fledgling competition.

"It was a great performance from my team," Glasner said. "Overall, the energy here at Selhurst with our fans and from the team was great and I am really pleased with what I have seen today.

"Today I could feel there was something special.

"But this is just the first strep. It's not done. It's half time. A very good game, we have the lead but we've still a game to play in Florence and I expect them to play like they did at the start of the second half - more aggressive and trying to get the turnaround."

Glasner added: "It's very important having nearly all the players available again and having the time to train with them. With some players missing, we have struggled a little bit. When there are so many games to play, there will always be a period where you have problems. At this crunch time you need your full squad.

"It was a great evening and it was special and it was delightful the players could translate the great week we had in training into this game and it's important now to keep this energy high. Three weeks with no game was good to recharge. We need this energy, this focus and this togetherness."

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