St Pat's out of Europe despite brief comeback in Turkey
For 45 minutes, St Patrick's Athletic dared to believe they could produce one of the biggest European results in League of Ireland history.
For the next 45, their shortcomings showcased just why this tie was effectively over after last week's hiding in Dublin.
Pressure that eased on Ole Gunnar Solskjær after last week's 4-1 first leg victory returned at half time on his own patch of Istanbul.
A third-minute penalty by Conor Carty followed by a rare goal from Ryan McLaughlin on 34 minutes narrowed the gap to one goal on aggregate.
Perhaps a grandstand second half was on if they survived until halftime without conceding but a deflected effort by Demir Ege Tiknaz scuttled any comeback.
Just like the wave of euphoria from Shelbourne equalising against Rijeka in Tuesday's Europa League, the immediate concession sucked the air from momentum.
Two second half goals by the hosts resumed the chasm, underlining the disparity between the sides. from Tammy Abraham - who'd bagged a 30-minute hat-trick at Tallaght - equalised on the night after the visitors failed to clear before substitute João Mário bagged the 79th minute winner, 15 minutes after his introduction.
For the fist the Saints made of this second leg, it was committing the type of mistakes they avoided in last year's meeting with fellow Turks İstanbul Başakşehir which rendered this rematch as academic.
Out of the title race since being hammered by Shamrock Rovers, Stephen Kenny's side only have the FAI Cup left to chase silverware.
That was reflected in the starting line-up missing Jamie Lennon and Mason Melia with a view to Sunday's last-16 clash against Shelbourne.
A beneficiary of the rotation, Carty, didn't take long to make his presence felt by smashing home ten spot kick, awarded by the Portuguese referee for handball after a VAR check.
The small travelling support were in delirium when they bagged a second, McLaughlin sweeping home from close range after a well worked deep free kick into the box addled the Besiktas back-line.
If Saints were unlucky to cough up a goal before half time, they could have no complaints about the two after the break.
Abraham wasn't going to miss for eight yards while Portuguese veteran was allowed get the wrong side of his marker from a run into the box. He showed composure to work the angle and beat Joseph Anang.
Pat's will regret Lennon missing with a header from close range at 2-2 but overall class showed over the two legs.
Linfield beat Vikingur so a rematch against Shelbourne for a place in the league phase of Europa. First leg in Tolka next week, Thursday TBC.
BEŞIKTAŞ: M Günok; J Svensson, E Topçu, G Paulista, D Jurásek (F Uduokhai 46), D E Tiknaz, O Kökçü (João Mário 64); K Arroyo (E Muci 46), Rafa Silva, M Rashica; T Abraham (M Hekimoglu 64 - K Yilmaz 67).
ST PATRICK'S ATH: J Anang; A Sjoberg, R McLaughlin (T Grivosti 80), J Redmond, L Turner, A Kazeem; B Baggley, D Robinson (J Lennon 56); J Mulraney (C Forrester 67), K Leavy (S Power 56), C Carty ( M Melia 56).
Referee: Antonio Nobre (POR)
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