Besiktas may be travelling to Anfield on Thursday on the back of a thrilling 3-2 win over Buraspor in the Turkish Super League, but they’ll be doing it without goalkeeper Tolga Zengin after the 31-year old was ruled out for a month with knee ligament damage.
A brace from former Chelsea and Newcastle United striker Demba Ba sandwiched a well taken effort from attacking midfielder Gökhan Töre as the Black Eagles ran out deserved winners on Sunday, but the loss of Zengin will certainly be a problem ahead of a trip to a ground that the Istanbul based side famously lost 8-0 at only a few years back. The 31-year old was taken off in the 11th minute after not only conceding a goal, but suffering a suspected partial tear in his ACL muscle which should rule him out of both legs. Understudy Cenk Gonen, who played out the rest of the match, is expected to be given the nod by Besiktas boss Slaven Bilic.
Liverpool, of course, have a number of injury concerns of their own with Raheem Sterling questionable for Thursday match after missing the Reds last two outings with a foot problem. When you couple that with skipper Steven Gerrard and influential midfielder Lucas being sidelined for sure with their respective injuries and Lazar Markovic’s four match ban, then it’s pretty safe to say that Reds boss Brendan Rodgers will have a bit of a worry on his hands before his side run out in the Europa League for the first time this season — something that will lighten Bilic’s mood at least somewhat.
“We knew it was going to be difficult match, but the team played like true (title) contenders,” said the Croatian after his side moved a point clear of bitter rivals Fenerbache at the top of the table. “Not too many teams can come back after conceding a goal in the 90th minute of the game. But we did it because we believed in ourselves. I am proud of all of them. We hope to repeat this performance against Liverpool.”
