St Patrick's Athletic captain Joe Redmond was left seriously impressed by the attacking prowess of Tammy Abraham and the all-round quality of Besiktas after the Turkish side coasted to a 4-1 win in their UEFA Conference League third qualifying round first-leg tie at Tallaght Stadium.
Joao Mario struck first for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side after just eight minutes.
Former Chelsea striker Abraham, who is on loan from Roma, then netted a hat-trick inside half an hour to give Besiktas a 4-0 half-time buffer.
St Pat's showed admirable resolve after the restart, with Simon Power scoring the only goal of the second half, but the tie is as good as over.
"Tammy Abraham showed great quality and he was a difficult opponent tonight," Redmond told RTÉ Sport in his post-match interview.
"It was a really tough first half. I don't think we laid a glove on them in the first half.
"I don't think that came from a lack of effort from the players.
"I think everyone could see their quality out there and I thought that they were a really good side.
"The speed of play they played at in the first half, I wouldn't say it took us by surprise, because we knew that they are a top, top team in Europe.
"It was obviously disappointing at half-time. I thought the goals that we conceded were quite soft, a couple of little mistakes."
However, while many were predicting a Saints capitulation in the second half, Redmond took great pride in the St Pat's response.
"That reaction after half-time, to come out and give it a crack, I thought was quite positive from a mentality side of it," he added.
"Looking at the lads in there, obviously we're so disappointed to come away with that tie being 4-1 down and having to go over there.
"But we'll have to have a look at it and see how we can improve as a group."
