Besiktas earn first points of Europa League campaign in shock win against Lyon
Aiming to take themselves to the top of the Europa league phase standings while at the same time condemning their opponents to bottom place, Les Gones dominated the opening 45 minutes at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, but failed to find the opening goal despite raining 15 shots at the away side’s goal.
It was midway through the first half when the match briefly became VAR v Alexandre Lacazette, with the former twice denying the latter. The ex-Arsenal man thought he had given his team the lead when he poked home a cross from Corentin Tolisso, who was later found to be fractionally offside in the build-up.
Just three minutes later and referee Harm Osmers pointed to the spot when Lacazette was felled by Tayyip Talha Sanuc in the Besiktas box, but the decision was changed to a free-kick when the video assistant referee adjudged the contact to have been just outside the box.
Having not managed a shot on target in the first half, Beşiktaş fleetingly had the upper hand in the opening minutes of the second half, but soon came under heavy pressure as Lyon would rue their profligate finishing once again.
First, Lacazette hammered his shot against the legs of Ersin Destanoglu from just six yards, before Said Benrahma could only hammer his striker against the bar with just the goalkeeper to beat.
In contrast to the home side’s wastefulness, the Kara Kartallar would capitalise on what few opportunities they would carve out.
Minutes after Ciro Immobile had hit the post via an unorthodox Lucas Perri save, Gedson Fernandes latched onto Rafa Silva’s threaded pass and drilled his low finish across Perri and into the bottom corner.
It was a goal that stunned Pierre Sage’s team, who left it too late to recover, as they drop down to 10th. Meanwhile, this vital win for Beşiktaş sees them get their first points on the board and puts them back in the hunt for a spot in the first knockout round.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Felix Uduokhai (Besiktaş J.K.)