Wharton and Mateta key as Crystal Palace capture Conference League crown
Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta (left) celebrates scoring their side's first goal. Pic: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire.
After being left out of England's squad for the World Cup, Adam Wharton had a point to prove. His outstanding performance in this Europa Conference League final ensured Oliver Glasner's parting gift to Crystal Palace was another trophy.
Wharton, the 22-year-old Lancastrian who counts Pep Guardiola and Michael Carrick amongst his admirers, was the best player on the Red Bull Arena pitch in Leipzig by some distance.
He was instrumental in Jean-Philippe Mateta's goal, which illustrated why the Frenchman will be on the American continent this summer.
But it was the way he controlled this final that will add more weight to the theory that Thomas Tuchel may come to regret the decision to leave him at home.
Wharton's only mistake was when he was booked for a mistimed challenge in a dour first-half which saw neither team muster an effort on target.
Palace then shook off their nerves after getting a half-time telling off from Glasner to dominate a team that drew with both Barcelona and Real Madrid during a campaign which saw them finish eighth in La Liga.
There would have been no shortage of interest in the Austrian when his contract expires at the end of the month, anyway.
But Glasner's bargaining position will be a lot stronger now that he has a European trophy on his resume, as well as the FA Cup and Community Shield.
Rayo, the club from a working-class district of Madrid were serious underdogs, despite having a coach in Inigo Perez who would have been working alongside Andoni Iraola for the last two years had he been granted a work permit to follow his best friend to Bournemouth.
The first half was riddled with tension and misplaced passes, despite the constant noise generated by more than 11,000 Londoners and the same number of Spaniards.
Palace wing-back Tyrick Mitchell might have been haunted forever by the way he wasted the best chance of the night just before the break.
Wharton was once again the architect.
When he looked up to see Mitchell making a line-breaking dash into the Rayo penalty area, the midfielder's vision was matched only by the accuracy of his clipped cross.
It seemed Mitchell couldn't miss. But he did, sending his header wide of the post with Glasner already starting to celebrate.
When Mitchell surged down the left on the restart to supply a low cross for Mateta that required the intervention of Florian Lejeune to deny the Frenchman, there were signs that Palace were finding their feet.
Rayo's resistance was then broken in the 50th minute when Wharton exploited space to let fly with a 25-yard drive that was palmed out by keeper Augusto Batalla and Mateta pounced to shoot home.
Yeremy Pino thought he had added to Palace's lead minutes later, but his clipped free-kick struck the inside of both posts and bounced out.
Then Mateta sent a shot against the legs of Batalla and Pino had found the striker unmarked 10 yards from goal.
Rayo forced Palace back in the closing stages, but it was the Londoners who took the silverware and a place in the Europa League.
Henderson 6; Riad 6, Lacroix 6, Canvot 6; Munoz 6, Wharton 8, Kamada 6, Mitchell 6; Sarr 6, Mateta 7 (Strand Larsen 76, 5), Pino 7 (Guessand 80, 5).
Batalla 5; Ratiu 6, Ciss 7, Lejeune 6, Chavarria 6; Lopez (Diaz 62, 5), Valentin 6 (Mendy 63, 5); De Frutos 6 (Camello 70, 5), Palazon 7 (Akhomach 77, 5), Garcia 6 (Espino 70, 5); Alemao 6.
M. Mariani (Ita): 6.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
