Palace complete debut season with trophy
4 - Jean-Philippe Mateta's goal in the sixth minute of the second half did enough for Crystal Palace to come out on top and make it three English winners in the Conference League's five-year history. Oliver Glasner, who won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt four years prior, leaves the club with a third trophy.
Palace became the 12th different Premier League side to win a major European club competition, and the fourth to do so in their debut season in continental play. West Ham (1964/65 UEFA Cup Winners Cup), Chelsea (1970/71 Cup Winners Cup), and Nottingham Forest (1978/79 European Cup) were the others to do so.
8 - Many saw the Eagles as the overwhelming favourites to go all the way in this season's UECL, and while they were not always superb, they eventually lived up to the hype. Having been demoted to the tournament due to multi-club ownership infractions with Lyon, Palace will now get the chance to participate in the Europa League next fall. In their 17 games in the Conference League, the South Londoners won 10 times, beating sides from eight different nations in the process.
Regretful Rayo end campaign in disappointment
2 - After just missing out on Europe for next term domestically, Rayo Vallecano also suffered the same fate just four days later. They managed just one shot on target in the whole 90 minutes - two less than their opponents - as they failed to properly test Dean Henderson. Rayo's second run in a UEFA competition was still excellent, even if they fell one game short of the ultimate prize. Los Franjirrojos were unable to score for just the second time in the UECL this term, with the other game coming in the round of 16 decider against Samsunspor. They also lost that match 1-0.
7 - Rayo will have to wait at least one more year if they are to return to the continental scene, which is a harsh reality for the side from the Spanish capital. Their 10-1-4 record in the UECL is the best of any Spanish team in the four years they have participated, collecting one more win than Real Betis did last term.
With that said, Rayo Vallecano are part of an unwanted record for sides from Spain, as they are the sixth different club to possess a losing record in major European finals. Remarkably, only one of them - that being Atletico Madrid - have won a continental trophy. The other sides are Athletic Club, Espanyol, Alaves, Betis, and Mallorca.