Darío Osorio starts for the first time at Crystal Palace and scores in 3-0 win over Middlesbrough

Starting for the first time in a Crystal Palace shirt, tasked with making an impact in an official match without letting the weight of the occasion show, Darío Osorio delivered in the 3-0 win over Middlesbrough, a result that leaves the Eagles well on their way in the third round of the English League Cup.

The Chilean wasted no time getting involved in the match. Before the scoring even opened, he had already shown up twice with dangerous-looking plays, in the 14th minute and again in the 22nd, though his teammates couldn't convert either chance. He held nothing back, kept searching for space and getting involved in every attack, until his persistence paid off in another way: he was part of the buildup to the first goal.

It was the 37th minute when Osorio combined with Will Hughes, who found Óscar Mingueza down the right flank. The Spanish defender delivered a cross that Jorgen Strand Larsen connected with perfectly to open the scoring and break the deadlock.

Palace wasn't satisfied with just that. Barely into the second half, in the 51st minute, the second goal arrived: Ben Chilwell sent in an aerial ball that Strand Larsen tried to head home, and right behind the Norwegian, Osorio himself popped up to poke it in for the score. A goal that, beyond the stat sheet, capped off a night in which the midfielder who came through Universidad de Chile's academy had been a standout from the very first minute.

The manager decided to give him a rest shortly after, substituting him off in the 59th minute for Daichi Kamada. The Japanese international didn't miss a beat, repaying the manager's trust with a goal of his own in the 71st minute that sealed the rout and made it a final 3-0.

With passage to the next round still to be confirmed, the squad's attention is already turning to the Premier League. Crystal Palace will travel this Saturday to face Ipswich Town, the club where fellow Chilean Marcelino Núñez plays, in a matchday four fixture in the domestic league. For Osorio, the performance against Middlesbrough serves as a calling card that will be hard to ignore as he pushes for more minutes.