By Alessandro Schiavone at Jan Breydel Stadion, Bruges
Cercle Bruges 1-1 Istanbul Basaksehir
**Goals**: Piarek (IB), Brunner (CB)
An ex-Fulham academy graduate has seen his side’s chances of snatching an Europa Conference League playoffs place evaporate after a 1-1 draw in Belgium.
Jerome Opoku’s Istanbul Basaksehir’s were pegged in the 82nd minute by Paris Brunner’s looping header after Krzysztof Piatek had given them what looked like the breakthrough goal eight minutes beforehand.
The topsy-turvy finale saw Cercles Bruges goalkeeper Maxime Delanghe produce a miraculous 97th minute save to keep out his counterpart Sengezer’s net-bound header.
Had there been a late sting in the tale the Turks would have sealed a place among the top 24 teams with the Belgians reduced to playing two extra games. Yet they knew it before that this was last chance saloon as they finished in disappointing 26th position out of 36 teams to wave goodbye to the competition.
Before that heart-in-mouth end to the game, Brunner had two chances to kill the game off at 1-1. Yet he sent one effort over while the second one was cleared off the line.
This season there will be no more European football fixtures for Lambeth-born central defender Okopu, who spent 10 years in Fulham’s academy without ever getting a look-in.