Brendan Rodgers has insisted Liverpool's young squad will have no fear when they take on Besiktas in a 76,000 sell-out at the Ataturk Stadium.

Of the 21 players who have travelled to Istanbul, a whopping 18 are 26 or under with the Northern Irishman's squad depleted by injuries and suspensions.

Missing first-teamers such as Jordan Henderson, Mamadou Sakho and Philippe Coutinho on Thursday night - the Reds will face a tough challenge to battle the atmosphere and a well-drilled Slaven Bilic side on home turf.

But the challenge is one that Rodgers believes his side will stand up to. 

"We understand it will be a difficult game but this is a team that is playing very well away from home, not just at Anfield.

"Away from home we’re performing extremely well. This is another challenge to that but we look forward to it," said the Liverpool boss.

"Have we got confidence? Very much so. The confidence is very high in the team and the changes we make and the players that come in, they know their collective job.

"They’re performing at a very high level so we expect that confidence level to continue and to carry that into the game."

Rodgers' injury list includes skipper Steven Gerrard, vice-captain Henderson and other key dressing room figures but he maintained to reporters in Turkey that his squad still ample quality to get the job done.

"We’ve got a few injuries," he said. "We’ve probably out here without eight of our squad who have knocks, some with previous and some who picked up something at the weekend.

"We still have a squad strong enough to hopefully get the job complete. But we’ve got a few knocks and niggles from the weekend."

Referring back to that first leg, in which a late penalty was enough to give the Reds the lead going into Thursday's return meeting, Rodgers argued that his side were full value for their victory.

"I don’t think we were lucky in the first game. Besiktas had two shots on our goal and our goalkeeper had to make one save of note.

"Simon Mignolet made a very good save from Demba Ba but apart from that we dominated the game.

"But we respect our opponent. We haven’t arrived in Turkey being arrogant enough to think it will be comfortable."

The Reds return to the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, scene of Liverpool's heroic UEFA Champions League final comeback, almost 10 years since that famous night in May. But Rodgers insists that it will not be on the minds of the current crop, instead, they'll be looking to exploit the size of the ground's pitch.

"Of course it was a great historic night for the club and everyone associated with Liverpool respects that.

"But it was a little while ago and there won’t be too many of our players that were involved at that time. It’s a real iconic stadium for the club and a big part of that history.

"For us to go there and play with a lot of young players and a new squad against a good team, we’ll look forward to that.

"It’s obviously a big pitch that suits us. If you look at the size of the field, in terms of the Premier League it would be the third biggest pitch. So in terms of the pace and movement in our team, the pitch should suit us quite.

"We’re looking forward to the atmosphere and we want to get the job complete."

Besiktas have been dealt a huge boost with two of their biggest attacking threats, ex-Chelsea striker Demba Ba and Gokhan Tore, who shone at Anfield last week, being passed fit after fitness issues earlier this week. 

The Liverpool boss said: "We expected both players to be fit for the game. Our preparation for the match was for both players.

"They are both talents but the focus for us is on ourselves. We know it will be a tough game but we’ll be ready for the challenge."