This means if Palace finished in our current position, we would bypass the play-off round and go straight into a two-legged tie for a place in the quarter finals.
As a guide, in last season’s table the side finishing eighth ended up with 11 points. Seven points was enough to secure 24th in the table – the final play-off spot.
What else happened on Thursday night?
Two of Palace’s future opponents met on the first night of action with AEK Larnaca hosting Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
And it was the Cypriots who made a flying start with a 4-0 win, AZ playing the vast majority of the tie with ten men after Alexandre Penetra’s red card after only two minutes.
In addition to Kyiv-Palace, there was second opening round meeting between a British and Ukrainian club with Scottish Cup winners Aberdeen hosting Shakhtar Donetsk. After falling behind to an early penalty, the visitors eventually edged a five-goal thriller to claim the win.