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Monday, November 5, 2007

IT IS DO OR DIE MATCH FOR LIVERPOOL AND BESIKTAS

Besiktas coach Ertugrul Saglam sees Peter Crouch as the biggest danger to his side's hopes of progress in the Champions League.

Saglam, who returns to the touchline after being banned from the dugout for the Turks' 2-1 win over Liverpool in Istanbul last month, fears Crouch can exploit the visitors weakened defence at Anfield.

Reds boss Rafael Benitez has given no indication whether Crouch will be allowed a rare outing in his starting line-up, but Saglam expects the England striker to be plunged into tomorrow's Group A game.

Besiktas are without key central defender Gokhan Zan, who is out for a month with torn tendons in his right foot.

Gokhan was outstanding in the first match, and only under pressure when Crouch came on as a late substitute.

Now Saglam says: "Crouch is an important player for Liverpool. His height gives him an advantage over virtually every defender.

"We do not have Gokhan for this match, and maybe for our next Champions League game. I am aware of the advantage that will give Liverpool and Crouch.

"We will aim to stop him, but that may mean we will have to work in other areas to stop the ball being played into him. Competing against someone with his physique is always difficult."

Saglam is unmoved over whether Fernando Torres will be risked after his adductor strain, saying: "I have no preference as to which of Liverpool's strikers play.

"If it is not Torres, it will be Dirk Kuyt, if not Kuyt then (Andriy) Voronin, or then Crouch. Any of the four are good players. All I know is that Liverpool will not start with all four!"

Saglam believes his side can all but end Liverpool's involvement in the competition.

He said: "We played very well to beat them in Istanbul, we will be aiming to repeat that result.

"We believe we can do that. It will be difficult because we are playing a special club, a special team and in a special stadium. We understand how important Liverpool's crowd is for them.

"But we can handle that pressure. We had practised at the weekend at Fenerbahce where there were 50,000 people against us."

Besiktas are also without Rodrigo Tello (ankle), Marcio Nobre (calf) and Ibrahim Akin (knee) for the match, but have restored Rustu Recber to the side, after the Turkey goalkeeper missed the first game in preference to Hakan Arikan.

Saglam concedes the importance of the match, saying: "This game will decide who qualifies for the next stage. To make sure that it is Besiktas going through, we know we must get a good result, and we are aiming to win.

"We have already shown how to beat Liverpool once. Now we aim to do it again. We know we cannot hope to defend for 90 minutes, it is not possible.

"So we will be hoping to keep the score at 0-0 for a long time, and then they will have to come out and attack us. Liverpool have to win, and when they do that we will be able to hit them on the break.

"Because of the results in their three previous group matches, they are under a lot of pressure, and the longer we are level, the more pressure will mount on them."
Torres return
Spanish striker Fernando Torres gave Liverpool a major boost when he returned to full training on the eve of Tuesday's must-win Champions League clash against Besiktas at Anfield

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