Oliver Glasner believes Crystal Palace deserve to be in the Conference League semi-finals after they defeated Fiorentina across two legs.
Despite losing the second leg 2-1 in Italy, the Eagles sealed a 4-2 aggregate victory in the quarter-finals.
Ismaila Sarr scored for the Premier League side in the away leg; only Marius Mouandilmadji and Mikael Ishak (both eight) have scored more goals in the Conference League this season than Sarr (seven).
He is also the joint-second highest Senegalese goalscorer in major UEFA tournaments with 13 (also Mamadou Niang and Dame N'Doye), behind only Sadio Mane (31).
Glasner conceded his side did things the hard way against Fiorentina, but got what they deserved in the end.
"Quarter-finals are never easy and we made it a bit tougher than it needed to be," Glasner told TNT Sports.
"Fiorentina got the belief back with the penalty. It was a very difficult game to manage to be honest.
"The team worked hard and stuck together and over the two games we deserved to play the semi-final."
Honestly, how can you not love this man? pic.twitter.com/BKfXZ2oUoq
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) April 16, 2026
Palace will face Shakhtar Donetsk in the last four after the Ukrainian side defeated AZ Alkmaar 5-2 on aggregate.
Glasner expects a tough test against Shakhtar, but insisted Palace's focus for the time being will return to the Premier League.
The Palace boss added: "I didn't watch them but I saw the line up, I think they started with six Brazilian players, so I expect them to be a very technical side.
"We will start to prepare watching the games they have played. Of course, in between we play West Ham and Liverpool and we want to do well in the Premier League too."
The first leg of the Conference League semi-final will take place on April 30, before Palace welcome Shakhtar to Selhurst Park for the return leg on May 7.