FCK earn Conference League draw with Istanbul Basaksehir

F.C. Copenhagen twice came from behind to earn a point in Parken during their third UEFA Conference League clash with Istanbul Basaksehir.

Amin Chiakha scored either side of Krzystof Piatek's second-half strike and earn the Lions a point, after Philippe Keny had given Basaksehir a first-half lead. 

"It's another game we had to win, so it's obviously disappointing to stand here with only one point when we should have also earned three points from the first home game against Jagiellonia," said FCK head coach Jacob Neestrup afterwards.

"What matters most right now is that we conceded two goals again. It can happen, it's perfectly fair to make mistakes, and it can happen to everyone, but it's happened too many times now, and the mistakes are too big, and it's also costing us points in the Superliga.

"We're five points worse off than we should be in the Conference League, and if we had them now, we would have been pretty much certain to progress. Now we have to win two of the last three games, which I also think is realistic, and then we should still have a realistic opportunity to progress. Not among the first eight in the league, that race is over now, but among the next 16 who also play in Europe after the New Year.

"In addition to the goals we gave away, there were good and less good parts of the performance today. I don't think our first half was good enough but we still created chances and even though we fell behind again just after our equaliser, we didn't give up. We fought on and got the equaliser again and keep chasing the win."

Chiakha, 18, made it 1-1 with a composed finish following a scramble in the box on 79 minutes. Basaksehir scored almost immediately afterwards, before Chiakha popped up again to level the scores with seven minutes remaining.

"It's always great to see one of our young players come in and score twice," added Neestrup. "This is exactly what it is all about at F.C. Copenhagen – to take the chance when you get it. Today it was a bit of a coincidence that Amin got the chance because Cornelius had to come off, but ten minutes after he came on, he had scored two goals with two chances."