Super Eagles Captain, Wilfred Ndidi, scored his first goal this season against Crystal Palace last night as his Turkish side Besiktas earned a hard-fought point in an entertaining four-goal thriller.
And it was the former Leicester City midfielder Ndidi who coasted from the midfield past the Palace defence with nobody tracking him before he found the net for the opening goal of the UEFA Europa League league phase clash.
Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta powered in a brilliant 55th-minute strike from an angle after pouncing on a misplaced pass in the Besiktas defence after Yeremy Pino had cancelled out Ndidi’s opener for the Turkish side.
However, Benin Republic’s Junior Olaitan found the net from outside the area in the 73rd minute to deny Palace the victory their performance deserved.
Palace started strongly against a Besiktas side which made nine changes from a weekend defeat by Trabzonspor and the visitors thought they had the lead in the sixth minute when Mateta finished off a superb move but the French striker was ruled to be offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Elsewhere, Ndidi’s Super Eagles national teammate, Cyril Dessers, scored twice to help Greek side Panathinaikos defeat hosts Kairat Almaty 5-1 in a Europa Conference League game.
Panathinaikos top the table with six points from two games.
Dessers scored from penalty spot in the 24th minute to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. He went on to complete his brace with a goal in the 48th minute to make it 3-0. He was substituted in the 56th minute.
RESULTS
Europa League
A’Amenia 0-4 Az Alkmaar
D’Zagreb 2-4 Nijmegen
Ferencvaros 4-1 Torrense
Juventus 2-2 Rennes
Poznan 1-1 Sunderland
OFI Crete 0-2 Leverkusen
Royale. 4-0 H Beer Sheva
Celje 2-2. Salzburg
Conference League
K’Almaty 1-5 Panathinaikos