Crystal Palace were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw against Besiktas in the Europa League after failing to find a winner against 10 men in Istanbul. The result followed Sunday’s heavy 5-0 defeat at Brighton, with Palace showing a much-improved performance before and after falling behind.
Jean-Philippe Mateta, making his first start since the opening day, thought he had opened the scoring in the first half. However, VAR ruled that he had been marginally offside in the build-up. Palace continued to create opportunities, with Mateta going close from a corner and Tyrick Mitchell also testing the Besiktas defence.
The hosts took the lead in first-half stoppage time when Wilfred Ndidi found space between the Palace centre-backs, controlled Yasin Ozcan’s long pass and finished into the bottom corner. Palace responded six minutes after the interval, as Dwight McNeil and Anan Khalaili combined to set up Yeremy Pino, who finished on the slide after another VAR review overturned an initial offside decision.
Mateta then put Palace ahead four minutes later. He reacted quickly to a Besiktas mistake, raced forward and struck powerfully into the roof of the net. His evening ended shortly after the hour, when he was replaced by Jorgen Strand Larsen in a double substitution that also saw Ismaila Sarr come on for McNeil.
Besiktas levelled in the 73rd minute through Junior Olaitan, who worked his way past the Palace defence before beating the diving goalkeeper. The hosts were reduced to 10 men 13 minutes from time when Umit Akdag was sent off for a clumsy challenge on Strand Larsen. Palace then saw a penalty appeal rejected, while Strand Larsen was forced off in obvious pain and replaced by Eddie Nketiah, who fired into the side-netting with his first opportunity.
Palace could not make their numerical advantage count during the closing stages, as Besiktas held on for a share of the points.
