Beşiktaş looking to blunt CSKA ambitions

Beşiktaş JK are hoping to find some belated home form when they face a PFC CSKA Moskva side with plenty to play for at the Inönü stadium, where the hosts have yet to register a goal or a point in this season's UEFA Champions League.

• Despite their win at Manchester United FC last time out, it will be the Turkish titleholders' last UEFA Champions League engagement of the season. Victory combined with a United triumph at VfL Wolfsburg in the other Group B encounter would leave them level on seven points with the German champions and CSKA, but they would still remain fourth as a result of the head-to-head record between the three teams.

• That said, a Beşiktaş success combined with any positive result for Wolfsburg would see the Istanbul side clinch third spot and a UEFA Europa League berth – unless they happen to concede in a win by one-clear goal, in which case CSKA would hold on to third. 

• Meanwhile, the Russian side beat Wolfsburg 2-1 on Matchday 5 and must better the result the German champions manage at home against section leaders United to claim a place in the first knockout round as runners-up.

Previous meeting
• CSKA defeated Beşiktaş 2-1 when the teams met in Moscow on 29 September, Alan Dzagoev (7) and Miloš Krasić (61) striking for the home side before an injury-time effort by Ekrem Dağ halved the deficit. It was CSKA's first UEFA Champions League home win for three years.

Match background
• Beşiktaş are still seeking their first goal at home in Group B after a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United and a 3-0 loss to Wolfsburg. They would set an unwanted club record if they succumb to CSKA as never before have they suffered three consecutive home defeats in Europe.

• The Süper Lig outfit last entertained Russian opponents when they drew 1-1 with FC Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Cup group stage in December 2005.

• Nihat Kahveci will have fond memories of Beşiktaş's only other home encounter with visitors from Russia: he scored in a 3-0 home success against FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the first leg of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. Nihat also struck in Beşiktaş's 3-1 victory in the return.

• CSKA last won away in the UEFA Champions League on 7 December 2004, defeating Paris Saint-Germain FC 3-1 in the French capital. They hit three goals on their travels for the first time since then when drawing 3-3 at Manchester United on Matchday 4.

• Igor Akinfeev, Evgeni Aldonin, Aleksei and Vasili Berezutski, Sergei Ignashevich, Elvir Rahimić and Deividas Šemberas all played in that victory in Paris.

• In December 2007, CSKA lost 3-1 at Beşiktaş's city rivals Fenerbahçe SK, as they bade farewell to that season's UEFA Champions League.

• The Russian club had previously earned a 1-1 draw at Galatasaray AŞ on their first visit to Istanbul in the 1971/72 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round – a tie they eventually won 4-1 on aggregate.

Team ties
• Beşiktaş coach Mustafa Denizli was in charge of Kocaelispor when they suffered a 2-1 aggregate loss to Lokomotiv Moskva in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round. By April 1998, he was in charge of the Turkish national team for their 1-0 defeat by Russia at the Lokomotiv Stadium. The respective assistant coaches of Beşiktaş and CSKA, Tayfur Havutçu and Viktor Onopko, both played in that match.

• Beşiktaş defender Tomáš Sivok and CSKA forward Tomáš Necid are team-mates for the Czech national side.

• Beşiktaş's Turkish international defender İsmail Köybaşı lined up against CSKA's Bosnia-Herzegovina midfielder Rahimić in their countries' 1-1 draw in a FIFA World Cup qualifier in Zenica this September.

• Rahimić has twice visited Turkey with his national team and twice finished on the losing side, suffering 1-0 defeats in a November 2007 qualifier for UEFA EURO 2008™ and an October 2008 qualifier for the World Cup in South Africa.

• Beşiktaş defender Matteo Ferrari enjoyed a UEFA Cup victory against CSKA in the 2002/03 first round. Ferrari's Parma FC drew 1-1 in Moscow and then prevailed 3-2 back in Italy, with CSKA's Šemberas, Rahimić and Aleksei Berezutski all featuring in the second leg.

• Nihat was in the Villarreal CF side defeated on away goals by Russian outfit Zenit in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32.

• Ignashevich won in Istanbul with former club Lokomotiv Moskva when they overcame Galatasaray 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League first group stage in 2002/03.