Babel reveals he learned to ‘fight’ at Liverpool, following European triumph
Besiktas eliminated Olympiakos from the Europa League after beating the Greek champions 4-1 at the Vodafone Arena – 5-2 on aggregate.
Ryan Babel scored his first Europa League goal since leaving Liverpool and then went onto score a brace.
Liverpool fans remember Ryan Babel?
Babel doubles Beşiktaş’s lead!!! pic.twitter.com/S099yWuocm— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) March 16, 2017
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Besiktas were in cruise control, leading by two goals to zero midway through the first half when Vincent Aboubakar head butted an opposition player off the ball.
Aboubakar’s senseless act resulted in a direct red card which was soon followed by an Olympiakos goal.
The Greek side would have progressed to the next stage had they found another goal and they had Besiktas on the ropes until Babel came to the rescue with his second.
Ryan Babel has scored his first and second Europa League game since leaving Liverpool! Could prove to be vital! Huge goal. YUGE! pic.twitter.com/Wr5efyIqYT
— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) March 16, 2017
Cenk Tosun extinguished all hopes of an Olympiakos comeback when he scored soon after his introduction to make the score 4-1.
Besiktas had to dig deep and Babel dedicated his stellar performance on what he learned at Liverpool.
“At half-time I knew we were in trouble, heads started to drop but we pulled together at the break,” Babel was quoted as saying by Turkish-Football after the game.
“I knew we had to fight, we had to really fight and I learned never to give up at Liverpool.
“It is where I learned to defend, I had to defend and work hard in the second half but when the opportunity was given I took it.”
Babel now has four goals in all competitions since joining Besiktas from Deportivo in January.
