Leverkusen retain hope

Bayer 04 Leverkusen can salvage a disappointing Group B campaign as they tackle a Beşiktaş JK team needing just a point to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32, as a win will send the German club through at the expense of their visitors.

• The Turkish side go into the match with three points, having won their last game 2-1 against Club Brugge KV following successive defeats – 2-0 at home by Tottenham Hotspur FC and 2-1 at FC Dinamo 1948 Bucuresti. Provided they avoid defeat at the BayArena, they will reach the Round of 32.

• Leverkusen have picked up just one point so far, at Club Brugge on Matchday 1. They subsequently lost 1-0 at home against Spurs and 2-1 at Dinamo. However, a home victory would see Group B's bottom club leapfrog Club Brugge and Beşiktaş into third place.

• The side finishing top of the section is guaranteed a tie against one of the third-placed finishers from another group in the draw for the Round of 32 on 15 December, while each pool runner-up will meet one of the third-placed finishers from the UEFA Champions League.

• The two sides have never met in European competition.

• Beşiktaş coach Jean Tigana has already led a side against Leverkusen, as his AS Monaco FC team won 4-0 and drew 2-2 against the German side in the 1997/98 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Tigana's Monaco also earned a 5-0 aggregate third round win against Hamburger SV in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup having beaten VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-3 on aggregate in the previous round. He did not enjoy such fortune as manager of Fulham FC, the Londoners going down 2-1 on aggregate against Hertha BSC Berlin in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup.

• Tigana took on German opponents in his first European match as a player, as FC Girondins de Bordeaux lost 2-0 at Hamburger SV in a 1981/82 UEFA Cup tie. He and his team-mates then won 6-3 on aggregate against FC Carl Zeiss Jena in the following season's competition.

• Tigana's Bordeaux bowed out on penalties against 1. FC Lokomotiv Leipzig in the 1986/87 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final and he was also involved in a 4-0 aggregate win for Bordeaux against Berliner FC Dynamo from the former East Germany in a 1987/88 European Champion Clubs' Cup tie.

• Beşiktaş's Turkish-born former German international Mustafa Doğan will be on familiar territory at the BayArena. He started his career in Germany with FC Bayer 05 Uerdingen and more recently spent the 2003/04 season at 1. FC Köln.

• Leverkusen have played Turkish opponents in two previous games, tackling Fenerbahçe SK twice in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League first group stage and winning both games 2-1.

• Beşiktaş, meanwhile, have played four games against German sides – two legs of a 1989/90 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first-round game against BV Borussia Dortmund and two meetings with FC Bayern München in the 1997/98 UEFA Champions League. They have lost all four games, scoring just once in the progress.

• Tottenham play Dinamo Bucuresti in Matchday 5's other Group B game.