Besiktas beat Liverpool on penalties!
Lovren donks it high and wide. Besiktas 5-4 Liverpool
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Arslan scores. Besiktas 5-4 Liverpool
Allen scores with a minimum of fuss. Keeper went the wrong way. Besiktas 4-4 Liverpool.
Hutchinson guides a beautiful spotkick into the top corner. Besiktas 4-3 Liverpool
Impeccable from Can, low and precise. Besiktas 3-3 Liverpool
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Kavlak scores, straight down the middle. Besiktas 3-2 Liverpool.
Lallana scores, sending the keeper the wrong way. Besiktas 2-2 Liverpool
Tore slots a superb penalty into the corner. Mignolet dived the right way but could not get to it. Besiktas 2-1 Liverpool
Lambert steps up. The pressure is on, as the fans behind the goal wave and jeer. Lambert wellies it past the keeper, who went the right way. Great strike. Besiktas 1-1 Liverpool
Ba scores! So the shoout-out stands at Besiktas 1-0 Liverpool
Phew! I don’t have to make anything up: the pictures are back. Besiktas will take the first penalty. Mignolet marches towards goal while his team-mates stand on the half-way line with their arms linked.
Point of disorder: ITV4 has just lost its pictures! That, ladies and gentlemen, is the broadcaster I’m relying on. I may have to get creative here ....
Point of order: “Who’s the ref in the Liverpool game?” tweets James. “He seems weirdly competent to someone like me - accustomed to PL standards.” His name is Damir Skomina and he’s from Slovenia. And yes, he has been solid.
Full-time: Besiktas 1-0 Liverpool (agg: 1-1) PENALTY SHOOT-OUT TO FOLLOW
Predictions? I’m saying Lambert, Can, Lallana, Moreno and Allen will take them for Liverpool.
118 min: Sterling s chopped down by Arslan, giving Liverpool a freekick wide on the left. It’s an ideal chance to send in a cross. Can wastes it with a woeful delivery.
117 min: After much probing by Besiktas, who are the only team who look capable of winning this without a penalty shootout, Ba tries to roll past Touré and shoot, but he drags his effort way wide from the 18-yard line.
115 min: Ba blazes a shot wide from 16 yards as team-mates waited for a cross.
113 min: Touré jumps into a cross by Tore to deflect it out for a corner. Skrtel clears with a towering header. But Besiktas come right back at them ...
111 min: Good work by Touré to dispossess Ba. But Besiktas soon win it back and Liverpool are having to defend en masse again as their hosts probe for an opening. It’s tense ...
109 min: Lallana lofts the freekick towards the far side of the area, and Ba clears well as Lovren lurked.
108 min: Sterling wins a freekick outside the box, to the right, after latching on to a flick-on from Lambert. It’s a promising crossing position ...
107 min: Besiktas’ tackling has been generally excellent. Bilic has made them a very tough and dynamic team, and they also have fine technique and a coupe of dangerous dribblers, especially Tore.
Liverpool substitution: Sturridge off (limping as he goes), Lambert on. He’ll probably be Liverpool’s first-choice penalty taker now, right?
Besiktas substitution: Kerim on, Olcay off.
Half-time in extra-time: Besiktas 1-0 Liverpool (agg: 1-1)
Respite for Liverpool. Will they spend the remainder of the game clinging on for penalties, or will they find a way to start threatening an away goal that would surely kill the tie?
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103 min: Moments after regaining the pitch, Can embarks on a good run through midfield before going over the leg of of Necip. He looks aghast as the ref books him for a dive.
102 min: Can hobbles off after receiving treatment for cramp. It looks like he’l be back, though ...
101 min: Tore feints past two at the edge of the area before sending a trickler towards goal. Easy meat for Mignolet.
100 min: Allen dobs the ball to Tore, unwittingly setting up another Besiktas attack. It culminates with Ba cracking another shot at goal from the right-hand side of the box. Mignolet bats it away. Liverpool are all over the shop ...
97 min: Liverpool have offered nothing so far in extra-time, other than encouragement to Manchester City, who are relaxing in front of their TVs tonight ahead of Sunday’s showdown with the club that PES 2012 called The Merseyside Reds. Do they still do that? “Well, it seems the more you feed it (the EPL), the more bloated and horrible it becomes. Time to starve the beast for its own sake?” wonders David Hindle. “This is getting like the dark days of the mid-90’s, back when Fenerbahce would comfortably extinguish Manchester United’s European ambitions in the group stages. Do you think a couple of broadcasters maybe overpaid a little for this wonderful product, recently?” Well they wouldn’t have paid so much if so many other people weren’t prepared to overpay.
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95 min: Opare darts forward and clatters a decent low shot past the post from 20 yards. Mignolet had it covered.
92 min: Extra-time has started in the way normal time finished, with Besiktas looking far more dangerous. Arslan has made a big difference since his introduction, not just because of his goal. Bilic affected the game while Rodgers dithered ...
Besiktas 1-0 Liverpool (agg: 1-1) Extra-time to follow ...
Liverpool won’t make it to another penalty shoot-out in the Ataturk if things carry on like this ...
90+2 min: What a let-off for Liverpool! They failed to defend the corner and the ball bounced to Ba, who smashed it at goal from six yards .... and it cannons back off the crossbar!
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90+1 min: Corner for Besiktas after a lovely run by Arslan ...
89 min: Liverpool are all out of ideas, other than to hold on for extra-time ...
87 min: Besiktas go in search of the goal that would prevent extra-time: but Ba pulls a long-range shot way wide.
85 min: Liverpool are improving. They’ve spent a few minutes in the home side’s half for the first time this period. Which is causing the home crowd to whistle at a level that risks shattering any glass in the vicinity.
83 min: Sturridge under hits a pass to Maquillo, who fouls Opare in his attempt to get it, giving Besiktas a freekick and a chance to clear.
81 min: Here’s the change Liverpool should have made about half an hour ago: Lallana on for ... oh, it’s not Sturridge, it’s Balotelli. The Italian looks miffed initially, but accepts the decision and shakes the hands off his club-mates in the dug-out. I guess his yellow card persuaded Rodgers to remove him rather than Sturridge.
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79 min: A Liverpool attacks breaks down. Besiktas try to launch a rapid counter-attack with a long ball towards Ba. But Skrtel comes across to cut it out. “Throw on Didi Hamann!” pleads Peter Oh, summoning the spirit of Istanbul, which seems to be on Besiktas’ side so far, unsurprisingly.
Liverpool substitution: Ibe off, Manquillo on. That’s obviously to counter the threat of Tore, who has been a menace in this second half. But Liverpool need to solidify the centre too - they’re being over-run in midfield. Sturridge should have been taken off 25 minutes ago.
76 min: Liverpool attempt to mount an attack - an away goal now would virtually safeguard their passage into the next round - but Sterling overhits a pass towards Sturridge.
75 min: Besiktas are full of verve now and Liverpool have a job to contain them. And Rodgers still doesn’t feel it necessary to make a change ...
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GOAL! Besiktas 1-0 Liverpool (Arslan 72) (agg: 1-1)
That has been coming and it’s a wonder why Rodgers hasn’t yet made a change. Besiktas have been streaming through Liverpool’s midfield for msot of the second half and they did so again jsut now, with Tore leading the charge. He fed Ba, who miscontrolled bu the ball ran to Arslan, who tonked a superb curling shot into the net from 18 yards to ignite pyrotechnical celebrations in the stands!
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72 min: Arslan launches a rocket from 35 yards! It flies through the air and swerves inches wide at the last second! Mignolet hurled himself across goal but it wasn’t certain he would have got to that if it had been on target.
70 min: Moreno, who has had a solid game tonight, backtracks to dispossess Tore ust as the forward wound up a shot at the edge of the area.
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69 min: Liverpool are dropping far too deep and finding it hard to relive the pressure. Even when they get the ball back Besiktas press them high and prevent them from doing anything creative with it.
68 min: Can strides through midfield and manages to hold on to the ball despite multiple bobbles. But he then overhits an attempted pass to Ibe.
66 min: A vital interception by Touré saves Liverpool. The Ivorian then turns around and berates Lovren, who was guilty of giving the ball away.
64 min: Liverpool back off as Tore carries the ball down the left and then cuts infield and fires one just over the bar.
63 min: It’s about time Rodgers made a change. Sturridge has done nothing in the second half and the midfield is being bypassed too easily now. Sticking on Lallan for Sturridge would make sense.
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61 min: Besiktas sub: Sosa goes off, having failed to show his playmaking powers, and on comes Arslan in his place.
58 min: Balotelli is down holding his face and his ankle. The replay doesn’t reveal how he might have sustained such a double injury. The boos and hiss, which I don’t think is a Turkish way of expressing sympathy.
56 min: Corner for Liverpool, their chance to pose a threat for the first time in the second half. Allen crosses. Loven meets it near the penalty spot and guides a reasonable effort on target but not with the power to trouble the keeper.
54 min: Sosa has a lash from 20 yards. It’s low and hard but Mignolet gets down well to save.
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53 min: Solid defensive work from Ibe, who heads clear at the back post. Besiktas are starting to find an attacking groove ...
51 min: Ba tries to find space for a shot but is crowded out. Then Hutchinson tries but he too is crowded out. Eventually the ball is worked wide to Kurtulus, who tries a crack from long-range. It’s well held by Mignolet.
49 min: it remains a scrappy but intense battle. “Got to be happy with the first half, a proper old school away performance, one that Bob Paisley would be proud of, albeit without the ruthless finishing,” toots Paul Ewrt. “You’ve got to love Emre Can: he takes up some great positions and knows how to run down the clock. This Liverpool side needs that kind of maturity.”
48 min: Nothing much happening on the pitch at the moment. Here’s a surefire way to ensure we get a goal in this half, albeit for Besiktas: let’s start talking about who you want Liverpool to get in the next round? I always enjoy a good England-Scotland clash so would welcome a meeting with Celtic, who, of course, would need to beat Inter tonight despite being down to 10 men. Otherwise, how about a meeting with Rafa Benitez’s Napoli? Or would you like an all-English encounter (since country protection is removed for tomorrow’s draw)?
46 min: We’re back. No personnel changes.
Besiktas 0-0 Liverpool (agg: 0-1)
A good half from Liverpool, who mad a sluggish start but soon took control. Their only regret will be that they haven’t converted chances into goals. Sturridge has been far too slow to release the ball when in good positions - let’s be charitable and say he is still working his way back to peak sharpness. Balotelli has generally been a good fulcrum to the attack and has kept his composure well in the face of robust defending since his yellow card. If Liverpool score you can’t see Besiktas coming back; concede first and who knows what way this game will go?
45 min: Fine work by Can to beat two players in midfield and then win a throw-in down by the Besiktas corner flag. And on that note, the ref blows for half-time.
43 min: More errant passing prevent Besiktas from putting sustained pressure on Liverpool. “I was disheartened to read about the Dunkin’ Donuts’ promotional misstep in today’s Fiver,” sobs Grant Tennille. “I thought only United fans had problems with glazers!” Badoom-tish!
40 min: Besiktas pick their way froward down the left before feeding Olcay, who cuts inside and unleashes a powerful shot from the corner of the box. Mignolet bats it away and Liverpool clear.
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38 min: Kavlak commits what must be his fifth of sixth foul of the game, giving Liverpool a chance to send in a delivery from wide on the right. Balotelli curls it across the face of the six-yard box ... and the ref awards a free out, for reasons that are not clear.
35 min: Moreno, who has been impressive so far, bursts into the box to receive a good (first time!) pass from Sturridge and fires a reasonable low shot on target. Gonen saves comfortably.
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34 min: Oh Sturridge! Balotelli presents him with a clear sight of goal - all he has to do is bang it from 12 yards, albeit on his right foot - but instead he took several superfluous touches as he tried to get the ball on to his left foot and was eventually crowded out.
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33 min: Balotelli is copping lots of nudges and shunts: the Turks seem to have got it into their heads that his temperament is suspect and he could be provoked into another bookable offence.
32 min: Besiktas’ passing is disintegrating. It’s as if they’ve been rattled by Liverpool’s mounting threat and when they do get the ball they’re giving it away very cheaply.
30 min: Liverpool are cranking up the pressure - and in a variety of ways: they can play their way forward intricately but they can also undo the home defence with long passes, as Sturridge and Sterling quite clearly have the legs on the defence. Moreno has just hit a splendid long ball to Sturridge, who found Sterling, whose shot was deflected behind for a corner.
28 min: It’s not happening for Sturridge at the moment. He runs on to a long Liverpool clearance over the top and suddenly had a clear 40-yard dash to the opposing goal. But he stumbles over the ball - not helped by a seemingly bobbly pitch - and eventually loses possession
27 min: Vigilant defending by Touré beings an end to a promising Besiktas break.
26 min: For the second time in two minutes Sturridge deflates a Liverpool attack by taking far too much out of the ball. An early pass could have put a team-mate through.
24 min: An uncharacteristically hefty touch from Sterling deprives the youngster of a clear sight of goal. However he retains possession in the box and plays a well-intentioned ball across the face of goal, but there was no Liverpool player in a position to take advantage. But the Liverpool threat is rising ...
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22 min: Liverpool had enjoyed a good three-minutes spell, popping passes about with greater speed and fluency and forcing their hosts on to the back foot. Bu then Lovren played a loose ball in his own half to give Ba a sniff of a chance. But Skrtel and Touré ride to the rescue.
19 min: Liverpool attack with menace for the first time! Balotelli sent a beautiful flick wide to Moreno, who charges into the box before being challenged. The ball rebounds off him and out to the edge of the area, where Sterling meets it on the half-volley. The keeper flies across goal to push it away, slightly more acrobatically than necessary. “Whose bicep is the Liverpool captain’s armband gracing in this makeshift injury-influenced lineup?” asks Peter Oh. Answer: Skrtel
17 min: Besiktas get behind the Liverpool defence for the first time thanks to a ball behind Ibe. A low cross is delivered to the near post, but Skretl intervenes to stick it out for a corner before Ba can convert.
15 min: Kavlak goes long for Ba again. Perhaps they’ve noticed from their homework that Lovren can be caught out with long balls, but so far Ba has been mostly marshalled by either Touré or Skrtel and the hosts have had no joy.
13 min: “I am at work this early afternoon and am not blessed with enough privacy to get away with actually watching the match so I do feel blessed to at least read it<” cooes Linda Howard. “Tell me- Is it zippy out there? How is Liverpool’s pace? Can I feel the electricity in the air?” Hold on, let me check .... ouch! ... Yes, you can feel the electricity in the air. As for zipiness, there’s plenty of pace in the pressing and some meatiness in the challenges, but the passing has been neither swift nor precise enough for anyone to create openings yet.
11 min: Well that wasn’t clever: Balotelli cops a yellow card for diving into a tackle on Kavlak. The Italian needs to cool down or there’s no chance of him finishing this game.
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10 min: A lovely sidestep by Hutchinson allows him to evade Can and thread a ball through to his sidekick in central midfield, Kavlak. But the Austrian’s attempted pass to Ba, who was peeling off Touré, was misplaced.
8 min: Besiktas are working frantically to regain possession every time Liverpool enter their half. They are breaking up play well when they have to but have not yet been able to piece together moves of their own. So it’s scrappy stuff so far.
6 min: Balotelli will be worth keeping an eye on: every time he goes for the ball someone goes down, either him or his marker, neither needing much of an excuse ...
4 min: Strong play by Ibe, who demonstrates how accomplished he already is by foraging forward from the back despite pressure from the opposition, then holding off a would-be tackler and playing a steady by in-field.
2 min: Balotelli is down clutching his ankle in apparent pain after being caught slightly late from behind by Necip. The crowd whistle their disapproval but the ref whistles for a freekick on half-way. Liverpool do nothing with it and Besiktas soon resume knocking the ball about before trying a long one towards Ba. Touré intercepts.
1 min: The home side kicks off amid a wonderful atmosphere. The fans are quite far from the pitch but they’re creating a thunderous din.
The five officials march down the tunnel with strange pouts, looking like a boy band way out of their comfort zone. They are followed by the players: Liverpool in ketchup red, Besiktas in white tops and black trunks.
Preamble:
It’s been a bad week for English clubs in Europe but where better to begin the fightback than at the Ataturk Stadium, the scene of Liverpool’s famous Djimi Traoré-inspired recovery against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final? Not that Liverpool need a comeback tonight, of course, as they’re leading 1-0 from the first leg thanks to Mario Balotelli’s insubordination and penalty prowess. But will that goal be enough against a Besiktas side who showed at Anfield that they have plenty of quality? That match apart, the Turks are not in a great form at the moment – they were leapfrogged at the top of their domestic league after losing Eskiehirspor at the weekend – but with the backing of their fervent home crowd and constant exhortations from their equally fervent manager, Slaven Bilic, they will be eager to get stuck into Liverpool, who have struggled on their few European trips under Brendan Rodgers.
Liverpool’s team news (below) is interesting: if I may be bold enough to attempt to interpret Rodgers’ plans from the line-up, it looks like Can will shunt into midfield in the absence of Henderson and Gerrard, while Sterling, Balotelli and Sturridge will form a frontline that looked mouthwatering when they played at Tottenham earlier this season. Jordon Ibe, meanwhile, looks set to be assigned the entire right flank in what will be another test of the youngster’s poise, dynamism and thrust, which have so far been highly impressive. Besiktas, meanwhile, have brought in Opare at left-back in a bid to shore up an area where they suffered in the first leg.
Teams:
Besiktas: Gönen; Kurtuluş, Necip Uysal, Franco, Opare; Veli Kavlak, Hutchinson; Töre, Sosa, Şahan; Ba.
Subs: Fidayeo, Pektemek, Ozyakup, Tolgay, Kerim, Ugur, Atinc
Liverpool: Mignolet; Toure, Lovren, Skrtel; Ibe, Can, Allen, Moreno; Sterling, Balotelli, Sturridge.
Substitutes: Ward, Manquillo, Lallana, Borini, Brannagan, Williams, Lambert.
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