Beşiktaş out to surprise United

Beşiktaş JK will hope to make amends for the nightmare of their last meeting with English opponents when they welcome Manchester United FC, last season's beaten finalists, to Istanbul for the sides' UEFA Champions League Group B opener.

Quotes
Mustafa Denizli, Beşiktaş coach
We aim to qualify. According to my studies, seven or eight points will be enough to take us into the next round. There are powerful teams in this group and the Manchester United tie is an exciting challenge to start with. United are one of the favourites to win the Champions League and any points that we take from them will ease our job dramatically. Every team looks to get three points when playing at home. With the help of the Beşiktaş fans, we will get a result. We want to show how strong Beşiktaş are at home and how we play to win. We haven't made a bright start in the league, but this will neither negatively affect us nor sap our morale.

Sir Alex Ferguson, United manager
We lost to Barcelona in last year's Champions League final but now we move on; new excitement, fresh challenge. Everybody gets defeated, it's important to learn lessons. We have a young team and young players who are improving all the time. Although we lost Cristiano Ronaldo we're still a powerful side. We have been in Turkey three times before, twice for Galatasaray and once for Fenerbahçe. Beşiktaş lost 3-0 to Galatasaray in the derby match last weekend but they were without some key players like Rodrigo Tello and Bobô. Their team consists of wise players and they play with short passes. The experience we had over the last few years makes us very powerful. Our group is a hard one and it seems that we'll travel a lot. I cannot make a comparison between our opponents in the group because in terms of quality there is no difference.

Key stats
• The Turkish team suffered a crushing 8-0 loss to Liverpool FC last time they faced a Premier League team in the 2006/07 group stage – the biggest defeat in their European history as well as in the 17-year history of the UEFA Champions League.

• A positive start against United would certainly boost their prospects of finally negotiating the group-stage hurdle at the sixth attempt, but it will not be easy against opponents unbeaten in their last 12 away matches in the competition.

• United have won just one of their four previous assignments in Turkey – a 2-0 success at Fenerbahçe SK in the 1996/97 group stage, via goals from David Beckham and Eric Cantona. They went down 3-0 at Fenerbahçe on their most recent visit in the 2004/05 group stage, albeit with progress already assured.

• United forward Wayne Rooney may enjoy the prospect of seeing Rüştü Reçber in the Beşiktaş goal after scoring a hat-trick past the custodian on his United debut aged 18, in a 6-2 UEFA Champions League win against Fenerbahçe on 28 September 2004.

Team news
• Beşiktaş
Out: İbrahim Toraman (heel), Rüştü Reçber (ear)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

• United
Out: Edwin van der Sar (broken finger), Gabriel Obertan (calf), Gary Neville (groin), Owen Hargreaves (knee), Rafael (shoulder)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

Weekend results
12/09/09 Galatasaray AŞ 3-0 Beşiktaş
(Mustafa 4, Baros 65 82)

12/09/09 Tottenham Hotspur FC 1-3 United
(Defoe 1; Giggs 25, Anderson 41, Rooney 78)

Did you know?
United have not lost an away game in the UEFA Champions League since 2 May 2007 when they suffered a 3-0 reverse at AC Milan in the 2006/07 semi-final second leg.