Where is Oh Hyeon-gyu amid the 'explosion of three fears'? "Just one header, only two touches inside the box"... Besiktas, who played with 10 men, secured a sweat-inducing draw against EPL's Crystal Palace

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Oh Hyeon-gyu (25, Besiktas), who had been soaring in European competitions, fell silent this time.

Besiktas drew 2-2 against Crystal Palace in the third match of the league phase of the '2026~2027 UEFA Europa League (UEL)' held at Tüpraş Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey on the 23rd (Korean time). Adding one point, Besiktas sits in 8th place with two wins and one draw (7 points), while Palace is in 15th place with one win, one draw, and one loss (4 points).

Oh Hyeon-gyu started as the leading striker in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Although Oh had been dazzling with two goals and one assist in the previous UEL match against Hoffenheim, he was quiet on this day. A header attempted from a corner kick situation in the 18th minute of the first half was both the first and last shot of the game. He played for 75 minutes until being substituted off for Doosan Vlahovic in the 30th minute of the second half, but there were no effective shots or chances created.

According to football statistics media 'FootMob', Oh had only two touches inside the opponent's penalty box out of a total of 24 ball touches. His pass success rate was solid at 92% (11/12), but he was significantly outmatched in ball duels. He managed a success rate of only 17% in both ground duels (1/6) and aerial duels (1/6), becoming completely isolated up front.

His ratings were also the lowest among both teams at 5.9 on SofaScore, and the lowest among Besiktas's attacking line at 6.3 on FootMob.

The match flowed tightly. Besiktas, who had their hearts in their mouths when Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta's goal in the 6th minute of the first half was ruled offside after video assistant referee (VAR) review, took the lead with Wilfried Ndidi's opening goal in stoppage time of the first half.

However, they were shaken by Palace's fierce counterattack in the second half. They conceded an equalizer to Jeremy Pino in the 6th minute of the second half, and just four minutes later, in the 10th minute of the second half, gave up a go-ahead goal to Mateta who exploited a back-pass error by defender Thiago Gallo.

Besiktas, having lost the lead, restored the 2-2 balance with a powerful right-footed shot from Junior Olaiter, who came on as a substitute in the 28th minute of the second half.

Afterwards, Besiktas found themselves numerically disadvantaged when center-back Umit Akdag was sent off directly for a rough tackle in the 32nd minute of the second half, and they managed to hold off Palace's onslaught for the remaining time to secure one point at home.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original