Marko Jankovic (Front R) of Partizan vies with Adriano (Front L) of Besiktas during the first leg match of UEFA Europa League play-offs in Belgrade, Serbia, Aug. 23, 2018. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. (Xinhua/Predrag Milosavljevic)
BELGRADE, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Serbian Partizan and Turkish Besiktas scored one goal each in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League playoffs on Thursday.
In front of tens of thousands of fans in Belgrade, Partizan, the runners-up of the Serbian Superliga, and Besiktas, the fourth-ranked in the Turkish Super League, fought for a group stage berth of Europe's second biggest club football competition.
To the joy of home fans, Ricardo Jorge Pires Gomes brought Partizan into an early lead in 14th minute after he turned a dangerous cross into a score for the home team with a header.
However, the Turkish team struck back in the very next minute when Tolgay Arslan almost entirely repeated the move of Ricardo, and beat Partizan's goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic for an equalizer.
In the second half Partizan went into the offensive. First In 51st minute Nemanja Miletic used a mistake in Besiktas defense and shot from just over five meters, but missed the goal kept by Tolga Zengin. Then Goran Zakaric attempted to beat the keeper with a powerful shot from a distance of some 20 meters, but also did not break the deadlock.
Throughout the whole game the two teams played evenly and created the same number of chances on both sides, with Besiktas's slight advantage in ball possession.
However, without managing to break the 1-1 deadlock, the final decision on who will continue to compete in Europe this autumn will be brought in Turkey next week, in the second game of the tie.
