​Palace thought they’d won it as Jean-Philippe Mateta scored his first goal since the winner in the Europa Conference League Final back in May, but Junior Olaïtan’s driving effort 17 minutes from time saw both sides walk away with a point.

It was almost a perfect start for the visitors as they won possession high up the pitch and the ball bobbled its way to Mateta to bury his effort from close range after six minutes; two minutes later, though, the Frenchman was deemed offside by VAR.

Palace started much better compared to Brighton last Sunday for the Eagles, but those continued to go to waste. Mateta had another opportunity as Adam Wharton drilled one right across the centre, but he was unable to get the desired touch.

Despite this dominance, the defensive issues were front and centre once more as Beşiktaş took the lead in first-half stoppage time.

Palace switched off defensively, and Salih Özcan played a long diagonal over the top to find captain Wilfred Ndidi, who charged forward into the space left by the defence, and the former Leicester man saw his effort trickle into the bottom right corner.

It really was a crushing blow for Pierre Sage, having seen his side dominate the majority of the opening 45.

There were appeals from Crystal Palace for a penalty right at the start of the second half, which were waved away by Danny Makkelie. There was contact on McNeil from Özcan, so, interestingly, VAR didn’t feel the need to get involved.

They had the ball in the net moments later as Anan Khalaili’s low cross was turned home by a sliding Yéremy Pino, and offside was originally awarded against the full-back.

However, following a VAR review, the decision was overturned, and Palace were deservedly level six minutes after the break.

It got even better mere moments later as Mateta fired the Eagles in front. He intercepted a wild back-pass from Tiago Djaló before he slammed a powerful finish into the roof of the Beşiktaş net.

The hosts were stunned but not shaken as Olaïtan made it 2-2 in the 73rd minute. Khalaili’s ball was cleared as far as the Benin international, and he buried a brilliant strike from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

Vincenzo Italiano’s side seemed to have the upper hand until a crazy challenge on Jørgen Strand Larsen from Ümit Akdağ saw the Romanian defender sent off. It might’ve been a second yellow card, but could have also easily been a straight red for how bad it was; either way, Palace had a brilliant chance to take all three points.

They claimed another penalty after Kamada seemed to have been dragged down by Djaló, but once more Makkelie waved them away, which VAR agreed with.

There was more trouble for Palace as Strand Larsen was forced off 25 minutes after coming on with an injury; it appeared to be non-contact but could have easily been aggravated by the challenge on him by Akdağ.

Eddie Nketiah replaced him and was immediately involved as he drove his first effort into the side netting.

Palace couldn’t find the winning goal and walked away from Istanbul with a point, but it was a much improved performance compared to what they’d put in against Brighton.

After a testing week which had seen Pierre Sage’s role as Crystal Palace manager under significant pressure, this was the type of performance that both he and the team needed.

The big question was: could they replicate that performance when they face Newcastle United on Sunday at Selhurst Park?