Crystal Palace vs Rayo Vallecano: How Oliver Glasner's Eagles reached Europa Conference League final

Game 60. The longest season in Crystal Palace's history has reached its final destination. Leipzig.

Their European journey started so long ago that Eberechi Eze was still registered as a Palace player when they were edging past Fredrikstad in a play-off to secure their Conference League spot.

While Eze has a shot at Champions League glory this weekend, on Wednesday it will be his former side who carry English hopes on the continent.

The route to a first European final has been a far from straightforward one. The feel-good factor from three successful trips to Wembley and a club-record 19-match unbeaten run unravelled in winter and edged towards self-destruction come January.

The FA Cup holders being dumped out of the competition by Macclesfield - a side ranked 117 places below them in the football pyramid - was just the start.

Six days later, the club captain Marc Guehi was being sold and his manager Oliver Glasner confirmed his intention to follow him out of the door a few months later.

Just over 24 hours later, a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland - a 10th successive match without a win - and an extraordinary post-match reaction from Glasner.

The Austrian accused the club of "completely abandoning" his squad. His position felt near-untenable. Fans felt disrespected as Palace's season continued to plummet. Relegation felt unlikely, but could not be disregarded.

Yet Glasner continued and Palace crept into the knockout stage of the Conference League. The train just about remained on the track.

Palace defied their tag as one of the pre-tournament favourites with some inept and underwhelming performances in front of their home supporters and overseas.