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Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, is hoping to reach the group stage for a 15th season running.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, will be hoping to reach the group stage for a 15th season running. Photograph: Stuart Macfarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images Photograph: Stuart Macfarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, will be hoping to reach the group stage for a 15th season running. Photograph: Stuart Macfarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images Photograph: Stuart Macfarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arsenal spurred by prestige not profit in Besiktas Champions League tie

This article is more than 9 years old
Arsène Wenger and his team will be eager to retain an unblemished record for qualifiers in Europe’s top competition

Arsenal will hope their Champions League campaign is not as muddled and confused as their journey to this distant qualifier. The team had departed Luton bound for this city’s Ataturk airport only to discover mid-air that their charter flight had been diverted to Sabiha Gokcen, the terminal on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. Cruise on another 500 miles and the pilot had been instructed to revert to Plan A. At least that spared the squad a two-hour journey through Istanbul’s choking gridlock. In truth landing in the correct continent is generally advisable.

The hope must be that this is as awkward as their two-legged tie with Besiktas gets. Arsène Wenger and his club have an unblemished record in qualifiers for this competition, with all 12 of their play-off matches over the last eight years having been won, taking in contests with sides from Zagreb to Prague, Glasgow to Enschede. They were in Istanbul this time last year, enduring Fenerbahce’s initial surge of aggression before their own quality told rather more emphatically. Besiktas, a club banned from the Europa League last season for match fixing but a team revived under new ownership and ambitious management, will offer their own threat having won their last 12 home games in Uefa qualifying phases.

Even so, Arsenal will expect to find a way to prevail. The club need the prestige of performing in the Champions League group stages – they have done so in each of the last 14 seasons – and participation generally equates to around £20m in revenue. “It doesn’t affect too much my transfer policy, even if financially it’s a big game, but that’s not the most important thing,” said Wenger, who hopes to sign the Olympiakos defender Kostas Manolas to bolster his defensive ranks. “We want to compete at the top level and want to fight with the best in Europe. That’s the point of this competition for us, not the financial consequences. We have always in the history at the club adapted to our finances. What’s very important is that you want to play against the best.

“The group still needs to grow. But every game you win makes you stronger and helps gain confidence. We have won matches recently and we’re more positive at the moment but the reality of the competition is it’s about performance. The environment doesn’t count for anything. We were not completely happy with our performance last Saturday against Crystal Palace and we want to improve tomorrow.”

Alexis Sánchez and Santi Cazorla may enjoy more space in which to thrive with the onus on Besiktas to make inroads and Aaron Ramsey’s form makes him a potent threat. With Yaya Sanogo having remained in England with a slight thigh problem, Olivier Giroud will lead the line.

Arsenal have scored eight goals on their previous two visits to Istanbul, though the locals will not be too perturbed. Besiktas are relishing life under Slaven Bilic, a man who won friends here with his crestfallen and emotional reaction to Croatia’s quarter-final defeat by Turkey back at Euro 2008. The former Everton and West Ham defender’s reputation suffered over his short and unhappy spell at Lokomotiv Moscow but he has since found a home from home, a club whose young side shows considerable promise. They have the former Chelsea trainee Gokhan Tore, Kerim Frei, recently of Fulham, and the former Arsenal academy player Oguzhan Ozyakup in their number. “They say Besiktas have 15 million fans in Turkey, and they expect,” said Bilic. “We have a dream and we will try our best to realise it. We are ready and we will never give up.”

A first appearance in the group stage for five years at Arsenal’s expense would represent a startling achievement but they are clearly a team on the up. They might have won the domestic title last season only to slip away at the last but their line-up has since been supplemented by Demba Ba’s arrival from Chelsea, the Senegalese offering a focal point up front after a frustrating 18 months in south-west London. Ba had pushed to join Arsenal a year ago but Chelsea’s reluctance to lend him to a perceived title rival scuppered the deal. He has maintained the upbeat form from the back end of last term to date, registering a hat-trick on home debut to secure passage beyond Feyenoord in the third qualifying round. That has made him an instant hit and a player of whom Arsenal should be wary.

In that context Wenger will be buoyed to have Laurent Koscielny fit enough to play, his compatriot’s achilles problem having eased to allow Per Mertesacker to remain behind to continue his own preparations for the new campaign. To that end the potential defensive crisis really extends no further than Kieran Gibbs’ hamstring injury which will keep him out for up to three weeks. The rest of this line-up looks familiar, even solid. “We didn’t know where we would land,” added Wenger, “but it worked well and we landed where we wanted.” The manager will hope his team follow suit by progressing into the group stage.

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