Liverpool will have to overcome a tricky away trip to progress to Europa League last 16 when they travel to Turkey to face Besiktas in the second leg of their last 32 clash on Thursday.
Besiktas have performed well in this competition on home turf so far this campaign winning two and drawing one at their temporary home ground, the Ataturk Olympic Stadium. This form saw them finish of group C ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, with Slaven Bilic's side no walk over. However confidence will be low in the Besiktas with that narrow 1-0 defeat at Anfield the previous week and another 1-0 defeat Eskisehirspor at the weekend.
Brendan Rodgers will be confident that they can get something from this match on their first return to the Ataturk Olympic Stadium since that famous night back in 2005 and the Northern Irishman will be hoping some of the spirit of Istanbul will rub off on his current side. They currently hold the advantage in this match with a single Mario Balotelli penalty the only thing separating the sides, they managed an impressive 2-0 victory over Southampton at the weekend which has reinforced their top-four credentials and will continue that good form.
Slaven Bilic has a significant number of absentees going into this fixture with; smail Koybasi, Tolga Zengin, Alexander Milosevic and Cenk Tosun all side-lined with injury. They are joined on the side-lines by both Ersan Gulum and Ramon who are missing through suspension. The coach will be forced into a makeshift defence with Necip Usyal likely to partner Pedro Franco in the heart of defence, whilst Demba Ba should be fit enough to return. Besiktas team doctor Ertugrul Karanlik told the Black Eagles official website that the 22-goal striker should return from a calf problem after missing the weekend's loss.
Rodgers will be without defender Jon Flanagan through injury and midfielder Lazar Markovic as he continues to serve his four-game suspension. He will also be sweating over the fitness over the quintet of; Steven Gerrard, Brad Jones, Lucas Leiva, Mamadou Sakho and Jose Enrique. Dejan Lovren is likely to start in place of Sakho if he is not fully fit and youngster Jordon Ibe will be expected to keep his place on the right flank, whilst Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson will likely deputise the midfield.