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Beşiktaş won 3-2 away to Hoffenheim at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena in the second week of the UEFA Europa League league phase, taking its tally to six points from two matches. The first half ended goalless before the visitors took control after the break.

Amir Murillo opened the scoring in the 60th minute and Hyeon-gyu Oh struck twice in the 73rd and 79th to decide the game. Fisnik Asllani and Koki Machida scored for Hoffenheim, whose head coach Christian Ilzer said the defeat was no accident.

Chances at both ends before the break

Hoffenheim went close in the 3rd minute, when Bernardo's cross from the right edge of the box found Machida at the near post and his header came back off the upright. In the 20th minute Hlozek ran onto a long pass on the right side of the area, got past goalkeeper Nübel after he left his line, and shot into the side netting at the near post.

Beşiktaş created its best opening of the half in first-half stoppage time. Olaitan seized on a Hoffenheim defensive error and cut the ball back from the byline into the six-yard area, where it struck a defender and ran parallel to the goal before defenders cleared it on the left side. The teams went in at halftime with the score 0-0.

Second-half goals settle the match

Beşiktaş missed two chances early in the second half. Murillo beat his marker on the right and set up İlhan Fakılı, whose low shot from the right side of the box slipped just wide of the far post in the 56th minute. A minute later Oh found Trossard, who took the ball past two defenders and shot wide of the far post with only Baumann to beat.

Murillo made the breakthrough in the 60th minute. Trossard collected a short corner taken along the ground from the left, drove into the box and squared to Wilfred Ndidi. Ndidi's pass was touched by Oh and fell to Murillo, who scored from inside the six-yard area. Hoffenheim replied in the 68th minute when Asllani cut past a defender on the edge of the area and drove a low shot past Nübel's right.

Oh restored the lead in the 73rd minute, latching onto Olaitan's pass behind the defence and beating Baumann from inside the box. He scored again in the 79th minute, converting at the back post from İlhan Fakılı's pass after Murillo had released the midfielder on the right. Machida headed in Coufal's corner in the 88th minute to cut the gap to one, and no further goals followed.

European run and individual milestones

The victory was Beşiktaş's seventh in eight UEFA Europa League matches this season. The club beat Midtjylland 1-0 and 2-0 in the second qualifying round, then Hradec Kralove 1-0 in both legs of the next round. After a 3-0 home win over Kauno Zalgiris in the first leg of the play-off and a 1-0 defeat in the return, Beşiktaş beat Marseille 4-1 in the opening week of the league phase and Hoffenheim 3-2 in the second. Over that run the team has scored 15 goals and conceded four.

Oh's double carried Beşiktaş to the win and took the South Korea forward's tally to three goals this season, after one in all competitions before this match. Murillo, the 30-year-old Panama right back, has now scored four times in 14 appearances this season, having also netted against Çorum FK in the Süper Lig and against Kauno Zalgiris and Marseille in Europe.

Defender Ümit Akdağ, 23, made his first appearance for the club since joining at the start of the season. Head coach Vincenzo Italiano sent him on for Ndidi in the 90+1 minute for his debut in European competition.

Kökçü withdrawn as a precaution

Captain Orkun Kökçü played only the first half. The midfielder took a knock in midfield midway through the opening period, received treatment and played on before being replaced by Fabio Miretti at the break. The club said the Turkey international had taken a blow to the heel and was withdrawn as a precaution.

Italiano said the injury did not appear serious. "He has a little pain in his foot. When he put weight on it he started to feel uncomfortable, and we did not want to take a risk because we need him," Italiano said, adding that Kökçü had told him it was nothing serious and expected to recover quickly.

Reaction from both coaches

Italiano praised a side that he said was physically strong and pressed well. "We won in a very difficult away game against a very good team. We gave playing time to three players who had not featured much and they did a great job. We picked up three points and the confidence from this win will help us a lot," he said. He noted the trip to Trabzonspor on Monday, October 19, and said the points in Hoffenheim mattered for that fixture.

On the campaign ahead, Italiano said the target is to reach the knockout round. "It could be the top eight or the top 24, but we want to go through to the next stage. If we perform well maybe we can finish in the top eight, and if not we must be in the top 24. I am very pleased with our game today, and I believe we will do good things in Europe this season," he said. He also praised Oh as a very professional player and thanked the travelling supporters, dedicating the win to them.

Hoffenheim head coach Christian Ilzer accepted the result without excuses. "We are very sad. We lost again. We faced a team that plays balls in behind, shows team spirit and has very good individual players. We could not stabilise in the second half and conceded from a counterattack. This defeat is not an accident. We have a lot of work to do," Ilzer said, adding that the home side could have taken the lead and could also have equalised.

Key takeaways

• Beşiktaş beat Hoffenheim 3-2 away to make it two wins from two in the UEFA Europa League league phase, reaching six points.
• Hyeon-gyu Oh scored twice in the 73rd and 79th minutes after Amir Murillo opened the scoring in the 60th.
• Fisnik Asllani and Koki Machida replied for Hoffenheim, while captain Orkun Kökçü was replaced at halftime as a precaution with heel pain.
• Beşiktaş has won seven of its eight UEFA Europa League matches this season, scoring 15 goals and conceding four.