Fenerbahçe 2-2 Slavia Praha: Kačor rescue sparks fury

Within 11 minutes, Chobani Stadium was toasting a slice of Fenerbahçe history. By the final whistle, it was demanding İsmail Kartal's resignation. The man who flipped the night was a 20-year-old who, on any normal timetable, should not have been fit to play.

Pavel Kačor came on for his Champions League debut in the 85th minute. In the 90th, he met Emmanuel Ayaosi's cross to earn Slavia Praha a 2–2 draw in a game Fenerbahçe had seemingly put away before the quarter-hour. Slavia have their first point of the league phase. Fenerbahçe have a squandered two-goal lead and a crowd in open revolt.

Oğuz Aydın writes Fenerbahçe into the record books

The opener came in the fourth minute, and it was a goal fit for the history it made. Milan Škriniar sent a long diagonal out to Oğuz Aydın on the right. The winger cut inside past Danijel Šturm and curled a left-footed shot from the edge of the area into the top corner.

No Fenerbahçe goal in the Champions League main draw had ever arrived sooner. The previous club record was a sixth-minute strike against Bayer Leverkusen in 2001. It was also Aydın's first goal in European competition, and his third of the season in all competitions from 16 appearances.

Seven minutes later, it was 2–0. Nélson Semedo slid a low ball into the right channel, and Mason Greenwood took a touch with his left before driving his finish low past Jakub Markovič with his right. That made it seven goals in all competitions this season for Greenwood, from 17 appearances.

Only once before, against Vitória de Guimarães in October 1990, had Fenerbahçe scored twice inside the first 11 minutes of a European match. The night looked settled.

Mattéo Guendouzi hands Slavia a way back

It stayed settled for four minutes. Ederson rolled a short pass to Mattéo Guendouzi on the edge of his own box, and the midfielder's blind pass backwards was intercepted by Lukáš Provod. Provod was clean through and finished low past the goalkeeper.

Fenerbahçe had inflicted the wound on themselves, and worse followed. Nathan Aké pulled his right hamstring in the 19th minute and was replaced by Kojo Oppong two minutes later.

From there, the contest flattened into something close to even. The final count of 15 shots apiece, four on target each and 51% of the ball for Slavia does not describe a home side managing a lead. It describes two teams swapping punches. Three goals in the first 15 minutes were followed by 75 without one, yet Fenerbahçe never found the third that would have closed the door.

The temperature on the Slavia bench rose with it. In the 59th minute, referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea booked head coach Jindřich Trpišovský and his assistant Zdeněk Houštecký at the same moment for their protests on the touchline.

Slavia were doing all this without Tomáš Chorý. Trpišovský had left his talismanic striker out of the squad after Chorý showed a middle finger to referee Jan Všetečka during the weekend league game against Hradec Králové. Without a recognised target man, the visitors still matched their hosts shot for shot.

Pavel Kačor rescues Slavia at the death

The equaliser arrived in the 90th minute. Ayaosi whipped a teasing cross in from the right, and Kačor, around seven metres out at the far post, lunged acrobatically with an outstretched boot. The ball deflected off Ederson's shoulder and into the roof of the net.

It was his first senior goal for Slavia, scored on his first appearance in the competition. Barely three weeks earlier, he had dislocated his shoulder and torn ligaments on international duty, and he had been expected to miss at least six weeks. He made his European debut in a protective brace.

The Czech press seized on exactly that story. They hailed a youngster back weeks ahead of schedule who conquered a hostile ground, playing for a side brave enough to set up without a traditional striker.

The point ends Slavia's two-match losing run in the competition, but it remains a draw. They have now gone three matches in all competitions without a win, and their winless streak in European competition stretches to 18 matches.

Fenerbahçe supporters turn on İsmail Kartal

The reaction at the final whistle was instant and loud. Whistles rang around the stadium, and the chant of "İsmail Kartal istifa" rolled down from the stands as a demand for his resignation. Kartal headed straight down the tunnel.

From the away end came the taunt that will sting longest: "co jste tak ticho!" ("why are you so quiet!").

Turkish media framed the night as a collapse of Fenerbahçe's own making, and the wider picture explains the anger. This side battled through a play-off against Lyon in August to reach the league phase, then lost 6–0 to Aston Villa in the previous round. Two points from three games leaves them 28th, just two places above Slavia in 30th. Their wait for a win in the Champions League proper goes back to April 2008.

Next comes the Galatasaray derby, which the Turkish press has already cast as an ultimatum for Kartal. His team scored twice in 11 minutes tonight and still could not win, and he can hardly afford another evening like this one.