Eagles face daunting test at VfL Wolfsburg

However, the Black Eagles won their last two consecutive domestic matches, with slim home victories over two struggling teams in the Turkcell Super League. They beat the Denizlispor Roosters 1-0 in week eight and fought off a late comeback effort by Kasımpaşa to win 2-1 on Saturday night, despite the fact that they finished the match with nine men.

Players confident

Beşiktaş players and some diehard Beşiktaş fans are already talking about their team turning the corner. But can victories over the weakest links in the Turkish league be deemed turning the corner?

Beşiktaş German midfielder Fabian Ernst seems to concur. Ernst, speaking to the German Kicker magazine on Monday, said the Black Eagles may have had one of the worst starts to the season in memory, but they are fast recovering from their recent slump. “The main reason for Beşiktaş's freefall at the beginning of the season was goal drought, not that the team wasn't playing well,” Ernst told the magazine. “Now it seems we have pulled ourselves together and so we have to put the past behind us and look ahead from now on,” he further asserted.

Beşiktaş captain İbrahim Toraman, who played against Kasımpaşa on Saturday after being sidelined for several months due to injury, was even more positive and predicted victory for the Eagles.

“It's going to be a tough encounter, but all matches in the Champions League are tough. We are going to Germany to win,” Toraman said affirmatively before he and his team departed for Wolfsburg on Monday.

The Eagles are still winless and pointless after two Group B outings, and Toraman admitted that there is immense pressure on the team. “Like it or not, you come under heavy pressure. But we have to overcome this and concentrate only on the match,” he added.

Coach cautious

Coach Mustafa Denizli has no major injury or suspension problems. Toraman, Ekrem Dağ and Batuhan Karadeniz, who underwent surgery in preseason, are now fit as fiddles and are all ready if called for duty. However, defender Tomas Sivok will miss the next match for an accumulation of yellow cards if he is booked today.

Sixty-year-old Denizli has been around long enough and therefore knows more than anyone that an away match in the Champions League is not something for the fainthearted. Even though the Eagles will be backed by thousands of Turkish expats living in Germany, the veteran coach refused to gloat. “It is going to be difficult,” he said. “But we are going to give our all and strive to obtain a result worthy of Beşiktaş.”

Denizli is not likely to go all offensive or all defensive against VfL Wolfsburg but may opt for a little bit of both. This may mean Bobo being the sole striker upfront, backed from the midfield by Yusuf Şimşek, Rodrigo Tello and Ernst.

Wolfsburg upbeat

VfL Wolfsburg seems to be brimming with confidence ahead of this evening's encounter against the Eagles after edging past Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 on Sunday to move up to fifth place in the Bundesliga. Wolfsburg defender Alexander Madlung headed in to put the hosts in front at the end of the first half, and Christian Gentner slotted home in time added on in the second half to make it 2-0. Gladbach's Michael Bradley pulled one back with the last kick of the match.

Rooney to miss CSKA Moscow match

Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United's Champions League match against CSKA Moscow today with four other senior players also ruled out. Ryan Giggs, Patrice Evra, Park Ji-Sung and Darren Fletcher also failed to travel with the squad to Russia on Monday, the club's Web site (www.manutd.com) reported.

Striker Dimitar Berbatov and defender Nemanja Vidic both flew to Moscow and should be fit, manager Alex Ferguson said. "I'm hopeful Vidic will be all right, but he'll certainly be ready for the Liverpool game [on Sunday]," he said. United leads Group B with six points after victories against Beşiktaş in İstanbul and Wolfsburg at Old Trafford.