Oliver Glasner's side suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at home to Larnaca last time out in the competition, but it had no such difficulty this time.

Maxence Lacroix got on the end of Marc Guehi's cushioned header to fire a right-footed strike into the bottom-left corner for the 22nd-minute opener.

The centre-back's finish was in stark contrast to Jean-Philippe Mateta's penalty five minutes earlier, which was saved by Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro, who had felled Sarr to concede the spot-kick.

Sarr doubled Palace's lead on the stroke of half-time, pouncing from point-blank range after AZ failed to deal with a set-piece delivery.

AZ pulled a goal back after an attempt by captain Sven Mijnans deflected to wrong-foot Dean Henderson, teeing up what could have been an entertaining clash in the 54th minute.

Palace forward Sarr added his second, and the host's third, three minutes later after being released by Mateta and coolly rolling past Owusu-Oduro, sealing the victory.

The win lifts Palace to eighth, while AZ is 27th after a second defeat in three European games.