Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 11:14 PM• Jonathan van Haaster • Last update: 23:16

Adana Demirspor failed to reach the conference league group stage. Although coach Patrick Kluivert’s team won 1-0 against KRC Genk in regular time, it went wrong in the penalty shootout because Younès Belhanda shot against the post. Earlier in the evening, Besiktas managed to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League at the expense of Dynamo Kyiv . After the 2-3 win in Bucharest, the Turks were also too strong in Istanbul: 1-0.

Adana Demirspor – KRC Genk 1-0 (1-1 after penalties)
Kluivert saw his Adana suffer a late 2-1 defeat in Belgium, leaving the club from southern Turkey to score. Genk was overrun in the early stages and it was thanks to Maarten Vandevoordt that it survived. Cherif Ndiaye let the home fans cheer a little later, but the Senegalese turned out to be just offside. Just before the break, Ndiaye scored again and this time his goal counted. Vandevoordt thought he had an answer to the striker’s shot, but had to let go and saw how Ndiaye still scored for the 1-0.

Even after the break, Genk was disappointing and it was also disappointing when a penalty kick was withdrawn. In the final phase, the Belgians turned out to have more content. Luca Oyen thought to score in minute 96, but he aimed uncontrollably over the goal. Moments later, Toluwalase Arokodare headed against the bar and Genk was left disappointed. Genk had another great chance in extra time in the person of Oyen, but this time he came across Adana goalie Goran Karacic. In extra time, Younès Belhanda seemed to be on his way to 2-1 a few minutes before the end, were it not that he was overtaken by a defender just in time for Genk. A penalty shootout had to bring the decision and Genk won it through Belhanda’s miss.

Besiktas – Dynamo Kyiv 1-0
Besiktas won the first leg 2-3 in stoppage time, forcing Dynamo to score. However, Besiktas scored the first big chance of the match. Jackson Muleka shot from edge sixteen against the right post. Vincent Aboubakar, Milot Rashica and Gedson Fernands, among others, also tried in vain. On behalf of the visitors, Denys Popov shot wide in a promising position. There was no score before the break. Shortly after the break, Aboubakar still made it 1-0 for Besiktas. The Cameroonian dribbled beautifully past some defenders of Dynamo and hit the far corner: 1-0. Dynamo was unable to do anything about the deficit in the remainder of the match, so that Besiktas summered in the Europa League.