Crystal Palace thrash Lech Poznan 4-0 in Europa League debut

Crystal Palace opened their first Europa League campaign with a 4-0 win over Lech Poznan at Selhurst Park, scoring three times inside the opening 35 minutes.

Yeremy Pino put Palace ahead in the 10th minute after Terry Yegbe, the Lech defender, sent a throw-in straight to the Spanish forward's feet. Pino carried the ball between two surprised defenders before finishing. It was the first of a series of self-inflicted errors from the visitors.

Chris Richards headed in Palace's second before the half-hour, meeting an Adam Wharton corner at the back post and looping it through the hands of goalkeeper Mateusz Lis. Jørgen Strand Larsen made it three from the penalty spot in the 35th minute, converting after Radoslaw Murawski had brought down Pino.

Murawski's afternoon ended early. He was sent off for a reckless bodycheck on Jaydee Canvot, and Lech played out the last stages of the match with 10 men. Eddie Nketiah added a fourth in the 89th minute, shortly after the red card, with a precise finish to complete the scoring.

Palace's route into the competition was unusual. A year ago they were thrown out of the Europa League over a breach of multi-club ownership rules and demoted by Uefa to the Conference League — which they went on to win, earning this season's Europa League place. Pierre Sage kept an unchanged side despite Saturday's 3-2 home defeat by Ipswich, a match in which Palace had also finished with 10 men before Zian Flemming's late strike settled it.

Lech, the Polish champions, had made a strong start to their own title defence before this trip to south London, but rarely threatened to overturn the deficit.