Crystal Palace: Oliver Glasner reveals Carlo Ancelotti mantra ahead of FA Cup semi-final | OneFootball

The Palace boss insists his squad is packed with players capable of producing magic when it matters most

Oliver Glasner has borrowed a saying from Carlo Ancelotti ahead of Crystal Palace’s FA Cup semi-final clash

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Oliver Glasner will seek to keep the butterflies at bay and harness the wisdom of Carlo Ancelotti to turn Crystal Palace’s “OK season into a great season” on Saturday.

If they make it past Unai Emery’s Champions League quarter-finalists, they will be one game away from winning major silverware for the first time in their history.

“It’s very important, it’s crucial,” Glasner said. “Carlo Ancelotti says you win trophies in April and May, not in November. Who can talk about it if not Carlo Ancelotti. You need them [key players to be firing].

“We are 12th in the table. This is OK. It’s not ‘wow’. It’s OK. We are now in the semi-final. Until now, it’s an OK season. It’s now a big chance to make a great season. This is what I love, not to make a bad season into an average season — it’s to make an average season into a good season. In the next five weeks, this is what we’ll go for.”

Asked how confident he is that his players have the X-factor required to beat Villa, Glasner replied: “If we need magic, we have players who can do magic.”

Eberechi Eze is capable of producing magic

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The former Eintracht Frankfurt boss was also asked how difficult it will be to prepare to face a Villa side where Emery could start Ollie Watkins or Marcus Rashford up front but whose starting line-up is difficult to predict.

“I don’t care,” he replied. “Because he won’t call me and ask who I want him to play.”

For around half of Palace’s first-team players, Saturday will be a first experience of playing at Wembley.

“We have quite a few experienced lads who have already played there, and we were talking today on the training ground,” Glasner said on Friday, after a short 35-minute session.

“But when the referee starts the game, let it run, let it flow, and then it’s just football.”