Veh cautious of Beşiktaş threat

VfL Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh has promised a cautious approach as Beşiktaş JK visit Germany hoping to draw level with their UEFA Champions League hosts on three points. Veh is yet to decide if the Matchday 1 hat-trick hero against PFC CSKA Moskva, Grafite, will partner Edin Džeko up front, while opposite number Mustafa Denizli refuses to see the game as critical even though his team remain point-less in Group B.

Quotes
Armin Veh, Wolfsburg coach
Beşiktaş are a very compact team, but also attack-minded. We have to be patient and must not bomb forward on the break. But I won't reveal my tactical hand yet. Beşiktaş are league champions and cup holders in Turkey for good reason, while we have home advantage with the crowd behind us. We have to win the individual duels, especially in defence, and then look forward. We want to reach the last 16 of the Champions League and to achieve this target, we really have to win our home games. I don't like to talk about key games but this is an important match. Beşiktaş and CSKA will compete with us for second place [behind Manchester United FC]. As for who will partner Edin Džeko, I'm not saying, but Grafite and Obafemi Martins are both fit to play.

Mustafa Denizli, Beşiktaş coach
Our goal is to get points, as it was against CSKA. Whether it will be one or three points, we will see. This fixture is important but not decisive – only after all six group games will everything be decided. We want to get to the next round, whichever way possible. We are preparing the players as well as we can for VfL, so they know exactly what they have to do. We are also feeling good about ourselves again after two [straight league] victories. Wolfsburg have achieved a lot in recent years. They have done that through hard work and have accomplished great things. The last time I was there, they were playing at their old stadium. This season, Wolfsburg have had a few problems in the Bundesliga – we have spoken about their weaknesses and how to take advantage of them.

Weekend results
18/10/09 Wolfsburg 2-1 VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach
(Madlung 45, Gentner 90+2; Bradley 90+3)

• The Matchday 2 loss at Manchester United was Wolfsburg's fifth reverse in eight outings in all competitions, their worst sequence of defeats since April and May 2007.

• Since then they have drawn once and won once, against Mönchengladbach, to go fifth in the Bundesliga.

17/10/09 Beşiktaş 2-1 Kasimpasa SK
(Nihat 8, Bobô 37; Moritz 89pen)

Team news
Wolfsburg
Out: none
Doubtful: none
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

Beşiktaş
Out: Filip Hološko (broken foot)
Doubtful: none
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: Tomáš Sivok

• Beşiktaş recorded a second successive Süper Lig win, their third in four matches in all competitions, against Kasımpaşa. They held on despite finishing with nine men after Fabian Ernst was shown a second yellow card in the 83rd minute and Matteo Ferrari a straight red four minutes later.

• Club captain İbrahim Toraman made his first appearance of the season following heel surgery in the summer, deployed in a defensive midfield role instead of his usual position of centre-back.

• Bobô marked his 100th league game for Beşiktaş with what proved to be the winning goal, his 38th in the Süper Lig.

• Nihat Kahveci's strike was his first for club or country in 39 matches since he scored twice against Czech Republic at UEFA EURO 2008™ on 15 June last year. He had netted 18 Liga goals for Villarreal CF in 2007/08.

Background
• Wolfsburg have never faced Turkish opposition, while Beşiktaş have lost all five of their past encounters with Bundesliga sides – three of them in Germany.

• Their only preceding UEFA Champions League meetings with German sides came in the 1997/98 group stage, when they went down 2-0 home and away to FC Bayern München.

• Beşiktaş have lost their last four UEFA Champions League group-stage fixtures on the road.

Did you know?
Mustafa Denizli spent the 1989/90 season coaching German team TSV Alemannia Aachen.