Besiktas 0 Wolves 1: Boly gets Wolves off the mark with last-ditch winner in Besiktas
WOLVES produced a classic stoppage time European smash and grab act to earn their first ever Europa League win and left Besiktas broken and bewildered.
The Turks thought they had escaped by the skin of their teeth when Romain Saiss bundled home from close range in the 89th minute, after Loris Karius failed to hold Leo Dendoncker’s header.
However with no VAR in operation until the knockout stages of the Europa League, Austrian assistant ref Andreas Heidenreich raised his flag to cruelly cut Wolves’ celebrations.
He ruled Saiss fractionally offside and, with no VAR to give a definitive verdict, no-one could argue with the official.
However Willy Boly begged to differ!
The big Frenchman had been superb all night in defence but decided to have one last charge as the seconds ticked down on four minutes of injury time.
Ruben Neves floated the ball into the box and Boly ghosted in to take a sensational touch before slamming the ball past Karius.
That sparked some spectacular celebrations from Wolves 1,000 travelling army as Nuno Espirito Santo’s men made up for their opening home defeat to Braga.
The Premier League side were warned they would be entering the pits of hell.
The reality was far less dramatic.
This wasn’t quite a breeze by the Bosphorus but it was about as far-removed from the cauldron of hate the Turks had promised as you could get.
Besiktas Park - the venue for Liverpool’s Uefa Super Cup final win over Chelsea - provided a stunning setting.
The weather was warm and pleasant and there were plenty of empty seats to suggest home fans have fallen out of love with their team, who have fallen from grace after a miserable start to the season.
For the opening half hour it seemed hell had frozen over, because there was little for fans from either camp to get hot and bothered about.
Then Pedro Neto scampered free on the left and fired in a low cross which Besiktas skipper Domagoj Vida deflected dangerously towards his own goal at full stretch.
On-loan Liverpool ‘keeper Loris Karius avoided a potential calamity as he frantically stopped the ball beating him at his near post.
Besiktas hit back but lacked a cutting edge.
Adem Ljajic lofted a shot over and Caner Erkin squandered another attempt, trying to shoot when he was hopelessly off balance.
In fact the closest Wolves came to conceding came from one of their own, as Conor Coady swiped at an Erkin corner just before half-time and the ball bounced off his own post.
However the captain recovered superbly to block Dorukhan Tokoz’s attempt from the rebound.
Willy Boly came close after the break when he headed over from a Joao Moutinho corner before the Turks missed the snip of the night as skipper Vida headed wide from six yards when it seemed simpler to score.
Boly showed him how it should be done – but boy did Wolves leave it late!