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Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi scored as 10-man Besiktas and Crystal Palace drew 2-2 in the Europa League in Istanbul on Thursday night.
Both teams came into the game on the back of home defeats (Besiktas 2-0 at Trabzonspor and Palace 5-0 at Brighton) and it was an exciting match in front of a raucous home crowd.
Ndidi put Besiktas ahead 1-0 in the second minute of first-half stoppage time when he took advantage of a long pass from Salih Ozcan and fired past Palace goalkeeper Walter Benitez.
It was Besiktas’ first shot on goal and Ndidi’s first European goal for the club.
Palace equalized in the 51st minute thanks to Yeremy Pino, who finished off Anan Khalaili’s low cross.
Four minutes later, Palace turned the tables on Jean-Philip Mateta, who pounced and scored his first goal since the Conference League final last season.
Read also: Europa League: Beşiktaş ready for confrontation at Crystal Palace – Ndidi
But in the 73rd minute, Benin Republic star Junior Olaitan scored to bring the score to 2-2.
In the 77th minute, Besiktas were reduced to 10 men when Umit Akdag was sent off for a wild tackle on Jorgen Strand Larsen, who had to be substituted.
Besiktas, who are now eighth with seven points in the 36-team league table, will travel to Scotland to face Celtic, while Palace host Hoffenheim on matchday four.
In other games, AC Milan, without the injured Samuel Chukwueze, lost 3-0 at Bournemouth, Nathan Tella was substituted and Victor Boniface did not feature in Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over OFI Crete, Tochukwu Nnadi’s Marseille lost 1-0 at Sturm Graz and Juventus came back from a goal down to draw 2-2 with Rennes.
By James Agberebi
