(Besiktas win 7-3 on aggregate)
St Patrick's Athletic’s hopes of producing one of the greatest comebacks in European football ended in vain as they were downed 3-2 by Besiktas in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League third round tie in Istanbul.
Stephen Kenny’s side went to Turkey trailing 4-1 following their game in Tallaght and they got within a goal of levelling things up after Conor Carty and Ryan McLaughlin hit the back of the net early-on.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær had the final say however, by overseeing a comeback sparked by Demir Ege Tiknaz in the dying minutes of the first half.
Everything started with a deep cross that Jake Mulraney turned into a shot at the near post. David Jurasek put this out for a corner, which turned into a penalty after a quick VAR review spotted a Gabriel Paulista handball.
Carty stepped up to take it and opened the scoring by sending Mert Gunok the wrong way in just the second minute.
The Saints immediately retreated into a condensed 4-5-1 formation as Besiktas went on to dominate possession.
With that came chances, beginning with a Milot Rashica cross that narrowly missed Keny Arroyo in the 13th minute.
Tammy Abraham followed that up by twisting into space and seeing a low shot blocked down by the St Pat's defence on the penalty spot.
Kenny’s players kept their shape in the face of this, and their reward came from a Barry Baggley free-kick in the 34th minute.
Carty flicked on at the far post for a Besiktas defender to awkwardly clear as far as Joe Redmond. The Saints’ captain headed down to McLaughlin, who fired in from close range to make it 4-3 on aggregate.
The Saints were in dreamland but they woke up to a Rashica cross that Abraham was able to turn towards Ege Tiknaz for a shot in the 43rd minute that went in via a deflection.
It was a cruel moment for the League of Ireland side and things got worse after the break as the creator turner scorer with a right-footed strike on the penalty spot.
That made it 2-2 on the night and 6-3 on aggregate, with all the good work done by St Pats undone in a matter of minutes either side of half-time.
Joao Mario wrapped things up in the 79th minute by stabbing the ball in at the near post after collecting a pass from Jonas Svensson.
Besiktas: Mert Gunok; Jonas Svensson, Gabriel Paulista, Emirhan Topcu, David Jurasek (Felix Uduokhai HT), Demir Ege Tiknaz, Orkun Kokcu (Joao Mario 64), Keny Arroyo (Ernest Muci HT), Rafa Silva, Milot Rashica, Tammy Abraham (Mustafa Hekimoglu 64) (Kartal Yilmaz 67).
St Patrick’s Athletic: Joseph Anang; Axel Sjoberg, Ryan McLaughlin (Tom Grivosti 80), Joe Redmond, Luke Turner, Darren Robinson (Jamie Lennon 56), Barry Baggley, Al-Amin Kazeem, Kian Leavy (Simon Power 56), Conor Carty (Mason Melia 56), Jake Mulraney (Chris Forrester 67).
Referee: António Nobre (Portugal)
