Liverpool look to launch revival

Last season's UEFA Champions League runners-up are in grave danger of failing to qualify for the knockout rounds after Liverpool FC suffered a second successive Group A defeat on Matchday 3 to remain on a single point from three games. Not that Beşiktaş JK can afford to rest on their laurels after their win two weeks ago; they also have ground to make up on the top two.

• The sides went into Matchday 3 at the Inönü Stadium boasting just a single goal between them after four fixtures. That quickly changed as Sami Hyypiä put through his own net while Bobo's strike with eight minutes remaining rendered Steven Gerrard's late header academic.

• Liverpool, who began with a 1-1 draw away to FC Porto followed by a 1-0 home defeat by Olympique de Marseille, therefore have to mount the kind of recovery for which they have become famous in recent seasons. One thing is for sure: should they lose this game, Rafael Benítez's men will not be able to extend a run of three successive appearances in the last 16.

• Before the game on 24 October the two teams had not crossed paths in UEFA competition. Liverpool had faced two Turkish clubs in three previous home-and-away encounters and their record in the home legs shows two wins and a draw.

• They beat Trabzonspor 3-0 at Anfield in the 1976/77 European Champions Clubs' Cup second round which helped them make progress on their way to their first continental crown. It was 25 seasons before they came across opponents from Turkey again, a second group stage fixture with Galatasaray AS producing two draws, 0-0 on Merseyside and 1-1 in Istanbul. They faced the same opponents 12 months ago in the group stage with both games ending 3-2 to the home side.

• During his time as Valencia CF coach, Benítez guided his team past Beşiktaş en route to their 2004 UEFA Cup triumph. They won 3-2 at home and 2-0 away in the third round and then followed that by defeating another Turkish opponent, Gençlerbirligi SK, in the fourth round, overturning a 1-0 away loss with a 2-0 home win.

• Besiktas's three previous visits to face sides in England has brought two defeats – 3-1 against Aston Villa FC in the 1982/83 European Cup first round and 6-0 against Leeds United AFC in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League first group stage. That remains their heaviest defeat in UEFA competition.

• However they are one of the few sides who have managed to lower Chelsea FC's colours at Stamford Bridge in this competition, a 2-0 victory in the 2003/04 group stage that remains their only success in ten UEFA Champions League away games.

• Besiktas' fourth participation on Europe's grandest stage started poorly with a 2-0 away defeat at Marseille preceding a 1-0 home loss to Porto. That made their victory against Liverpool – only their sixth in 21 games in the competition – all the greater and it has handed them the opportunity to improve on their previous group finishing positions: two thirds and a fourth.