Sağlam savours final chance

Beşiktaş JK coach Ertuğrul Sağlam admitted "it's nice to be in this position" after a 2-1 victory against Olympique de Marseille kept Group A wide open going into the final round of fixtures on 11 December. Victory away to FC Porto would send them through, while Marseille face the daunting task of getting at least a point from their home game against a Liverpool FC side that have now scored 12 in two UEFA Champions League outings. The French club's coach, Erik Gerets, says they must first work out how to eliminate the "individual mistakes" which have cost his team so dear.

Ertuğrul Sağlam, Beşiktaş coach
Tonight was very important. We had to win and by getting three points we carried our qualification hopes into the last game. In previous games we haven't been successful and everyone was down but tonight we gave our fans reason to cheer. My players were highly motivated and I congratulate all of them. Mathematically all the teams in the group are still in with a shout and we know we have to beat Porto to qualify. We have already played them and know them now. We have the capacity to get three points from them and we'll do our best to do just that. It's nice to be in this position. The team have got points against Liverpool and Marseille so I'm sure they can do the same against Porto.

Erik Gerets, Marseille coach
From a tactical point of view in the first half we didn't play well. [Matías] Delgado was free to link up with Bobo in attack, but in the second half we chased the win. Yet in pursuit of the win we conceded and lost. I hope Marseille and Beşiktaş qualify from the group together and in the last game we need the support of our fans. We cannot make it without them. I had warned my players about the pressure from the Beşiktaş fans and in the first half it really affected them but that decreased as the second half wore on. We have played well in all our Champions League games but individual mistakes have let us down. I don't want to blame specific players but that's how it is.