Black Eagles look to heal wounds

Ending a difficult September with two losses and two draws in five games on both the domestic and international stage, Beşiktaş wants to bounce back by defeating Porto on home ground tonight.

Starting the Champions League Group A fixture with an away loss at the hands of French side Olympique Marseille through two late goals, the Black Eagles want to revive their hopes by getting a good result from the game at Istanbul İnönü Stadium.

The Marseille game was the beginning of heavy criticisms leveled toward Ertuğrul Sağlam, who was supposedly responsible for the highly defensive style of play against the French team. Sağlam found himself under fire once again, as his team had a poor display losing 2-1 to Galatasaray Saturday, when the Lions were relatively vulnerable, playing without two of their main stars Hakan Şükür and Lincoln.

Meanwhile, it is bad news for Beşiktaş that the Portuguese side has made an almost perfect start to the season. Winning all six of its domestic league games, Porto has conceded only one goal. The Dragons have also made a relatively positive start to the Champions League, holding Liverpool to a 1-1 draw. Still, the score was more like the minimum of what they could get against last year's runner up, as the game was almost one-sided in favor of the Portuguese champions.

On the other hand, Beşiktaş has something to hold on to before tonight's game. First is an exceptional record of winning all the second games in the Champions League. Beşiktaş defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in the 1997-98 season and outclassed Barcelona 3-0 in the year 2000-2001 in the second fixtures of the Europe's top campaign. The Black Eagles also shocked Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in 2003 in the second game. Also in Group A, Erik Gerets starts his Marseille coaching career at Anfield, where French teams have never won. However, Liverpool's only defeat in last year's Champions League group stage was inflicted by Galatasaray – then coached by none other than Gerets.

"We're obviously not taking it easy, but we're certainly not overawed," Marseille president, Pape Diouf, said. "It's the first match of a new era ... and we have to remain optimistic," he added.

The visiting side has inside knowledge of the Reds, courtesy of summer signings Djibril Cissé and Boudewijn Zenden.

"They're a team that are very well organized, very compact," said Dutch winger Zenden. "The defenders don't give an inch." In the Group B game, Valencia welcomes troubled Chelsea. Having parted ways with manager Jose Mourinho following a 1-1 draw with Rosenborg in its opening European Champions League match, Chelsea is struggling for goals and looks nothing like the team that reached the semifinals three times in the past four years. Rosenborg is playing German side Schalke 04. Tonight Lazio welcomes Real Madrid and Olympiacos visits Werder Bremen in Group C games, while Celtic-Milan and Benfica-Shakhtar will clash in Group D. The matches start at 9:45 p.m.