As part of the UEFA Europa Conference League last night’s match between ACF Fiorentina and Crystal Palace FC meant more to us than just football.
Sandra’s family is from Florence, while my very first match—years ago with my granddad—was watching Crystal Palace in South-East London. From that moment on, Palace has always been my team (yes, even back in the days when they beat Accrington Stanley! That was in 1960 and the amazing score was Crystal Palace 9 and Accrington Stanley 2).
So this tie was a bit of a “family derby”:
💜 Sandra for Fiorentina
🔴🔵 Me for Crystal Palace
What made it truly special, though, was the spirit of the fans. We flew to Italy in a plane with a big group of Palace supporters. They kindly helped Sandra with her luggage—such a simple gesture, but it said everything about the club and its people. We managed to watch the match with its increasingly tense second half on Italian radio. But whatever the result on the pitch, moments like that remind you what football is really about. Proud of Crystal Palace, proud of their supporters—and a memorable night for both sides.But especially for the Eagles because although they lost the match in the second leg 2-1 they won the first leg 3-0 and so go on to the semi-finals on aggregate!

Goal Scoreboard.

0–1 Crystal Palace
Ismaïla Sarr – early first half (header) �
The Times +1
1–1 Fiorentina
Albert Gudmundsson – 29’ (penalty) �
AS USA +1
2–1 Fiorentina
Cher Ndour – second half (exact minute not consistently reported, around mid–second half) �

Football #CrystalPalace #Fiorentina #ConferenceLeague #FootballFamily