Crystal Palace were held to a draw in a scintillating four-goal thriller against Besiktas in Istanbul on Thursday night.
Besiktas v Crystal Palace Match Report
After an underwhelming start to the 2026/27 term under the stewardship of newly appointed Pierre Sage, there was an unsurprising element of skepticism amongst Crystal Palace supporters heading to the Tupras Stadium in Istanbul.
Palace started the game like a team full of confidence, however, and they had the ball inside the goal inside just six minutes through Jean-Phillipe Mateta.
Much to the frustration of the travelling Eagles, VAR deemed that the Frenchman was in an offside position when the ball was threaded through to him in the Besiktas box, seeing the goal ruled out and preventing the visitors from taking the lead.
Sage's side didn't let the disallowed goal knock their confidence, however, limiting the hosts to very little and coming close to the opener on numerous occasions.
Against the run of play, Wilfred Ndidi made a clever run in behind the Palace back line, where he latched onto Salih Ozcan's perfectly-weighted pass before expertly firing home on his weaker left foot.
The Eagles started the second half with intent, and it took them less than six minutes to find the equaliser. Yeremy Pino -- who has been one of few standouts for the South London outfit this term -- converted Anan Khalaili's cross, with VAR awarding the goal after the linesman officially ruled the right wing-back offside in the build up.
Mateta was a handful all night in Istanbul, and he was rewarded with a goal -- his first since the 2025/26 Conference League final -- in the 55th minute, anticipating an underhit back-pass and emphatically firing home past Alexander Nubel.
Palace dropped deeper after going in front, and they paid the price for it in the 73rd minutes when Junior Olaitan levelled the scoring.
The Beninese midfielder beat two men on the edge of the box, before unleashing a right-footed effort into the bottom-left corner, past Eagles stopper Walter Benitez.
Little separated the two sides after Besiktas' second goal, but Palace may sense a missed opportunity to win the game after Umit Akdag was dismissed for a forceful tackle on Jorgen Stand Larsen -- who had to be replaced by Eddie Nketiah just eight minutes later.
Besiktas v Crystal Palace Timeline
15' - Yellow card for Wilfred Ndidi (BES).
45' - Yellow card for Yeremy Pino (CRY).
45+2' - GOAL for Besiktas. Scored by Wildred Ndidi, assisted by Salih Ozcan.
51' - GOAL for Crystal Palace. Scored by Yeremy Pino, assisted by Anan Khalaili.
55' - GOAL for Crystal Palace. Scored by Jean-Phillipe Mateta.
66' - Yellow card for Umit Akdag (BES).
73' - GOAL for Besiktas. Scored by Junior Olaitan.
77' - Red card for Umit Akdag (BES).
Besiktas v Crystal Palace Stats
Besiktas | 2-2 | Crystal Palace |
59% | Possession | 41% |
5 | Shots | 8 |
0.67 | Expected Goals | 0.40 |
2 | Shots on Target | 3 |
1 | Big Chances | 1 |
1 | Goalkeeper Saves | 0 |
1 | Corners | 3 |
515 | Passes | 356 |
11 | Fouls Committed | 16 |
24 | Clearances | 22 |
2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
1 | Red Cards | 0 |
