Record against Palace
As far as our records show, this is the first meeting between the two sides – but Palace have faced German opposition in pre-seasons prior.
In July 2005 the Eagles travelled to Germany for two friendlies, the first of which was against Czech club FK Teplice in Meisbach which ended in a 2-1 defeat, before an encounter with Eintracht Frankfurt on the ground of FC Füssen. New signing Jon Macken opened the scoring three minutes into the second half [above] but the German team equalised 13 minutes from time.
We have twice visited the country in our current Premier League spell, with a goalless draw at FC Augsburg in 2014 followed by a visit to Berlin 12 months later for a friendly against second division FC Union Berlin, when even the debut of Yohan Cabaye could not stop the Eagles suffering a 2-0 defeat.
In the summer of 2017, Schalke were the Eagles’ final pre-season opponents, and in his first game in the Selhurst dugout, Frank de Boer saw his Eagles trail at the break when Pablo Insua netted just before half-time. Christian Benteke equalised on the hour mark with a header, just before German midfielder Max Meyer was introduced for his first taste of life in SE25.
Our last match in the Austrian Alps, meanwhile? In the summer of 2014, the Eagles met Grazer AK (GAK) in a friendly, as part of another week-long camp.
It provided a remarkable result for the history books – the Eagles winning 13-1 (yes, thirteen!) It may have been a mismatch, but seeing 13 goals hit the net is a rare sight for any fan at any level of football.
