LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - Crystal Palace reached the Conference League final after a 2-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at Selhurst Park on Thursday gave them a 5-2 aggregate victory, earning the Premier League side a place in the decider in their first season in Europe.
Palace, who began the season by winning the Community Shield, will end their campaign with a showpiece match against Rayo Vallecano on May 27 in Leipzig after the Spanish side beat Strasbourg 2-0 on aggregate.
"It's pretty incredible honestly to get into a European competition with Crystal Palace, never mind make the final," Palace goalkeeper and captain Dean Henderson told TNT Sports.
"You see the connection between the players and the supporters, it's fantastic."
The hosts, bolstered by a 3-1 win in last week's away leg in Poland, had the ball in the net in the 10th minute, but Yeremy Pino's goal was ruled out for offside.
Palace went ahead in the 25th when Adam Wharton's shot was parried by goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk and Daniel Munoz's follow-up from the rebound took a deflection off defender Pedro Henrique.
Shakhtar kept themselves in the tie with an equaliser nine minutes later through Eguinaldo, who collected a pass just inside the area and took a touch to control it before coolly steering the ball into the top corner.
Ismaila Sarr netted his ninth of the competition, making him this season's Conference League top scorer, to put Palace back in front and restore their three-goal aggregate advantage seven minutes after the break.
Oliver Glasner's side were happy to sit back and soak up the Shakhtar pressure to see out the game and the Palace fans were celebrating long before the end and can now dream of adding to their silverware in the manager's final game in charge.
"First trophy in 120 years last year and we are trying to get another for the fans," Wharton told TNT Sports.
"You get goosebumps, it's incredible. This is the best Selhurst Park has been in my two years here. Unbelievable atmosphere and you can tell how much it means to south London."
Palace had originally qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup last season, the club's first major trophy, but were dropped to the Conference League in a multi-club ownership case involving French side Olympique Lyonnais.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)
