In the 3rd week of the UEFA Europa League, Besiktas will host French team Olympique Lyon. The black-and-whites are looking to return to Istanbul with 3 points after not seeing a victory in the first two weeks. With injuries affecting morale, Besiktas will be without Mert Gunok, Ersin Destanoglu, Gabriel Paulista, and Milot Rashica for the match as they aim to put an end to their poor results in Europe.
LYON VS BESIKTAS MATCH
In the 3rd week of the UEFA Europa League, Besiktas will host French team Olympique Lyon. The black-and-whites are looking to return to Istanbul with 3 points after not seeing a victory in the first two weeks. With injuries affecting morale, Besiktas will be without Mert Gunok, Ersin Destanoglu, Gabriel Paulista, and Milot Rashica for the match as they aim to put an end to their poor results in Europe.
247TH ENCOUNTER IN EUROPEAN CUPS
In their first match of the new league format in the UEFA Europa League, the black-and-whites lost 4-0 away to Ajax, and in their second match, they were defeated 3-1 at home by the German team Eintracht Frankfurt. With the match against Lyon, Besiktas will play its 247th match in European competitions. The team has experienced 92 victories, 49 draws, and 105 defeats in the previous 246 matches. The black-and-whites have scored in their opponents’ nets 329 times but have conceded 376 goals.
In the competitions held under the names of the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Europa League, Besiktas has participated 125 times so far. In these matches, the black-and-whites have achieved 54 victories, 25 draws, and 46 losses. The team has celebrated 198 goals in these matches while conceding 166 goals.
ONLY ONE VICTORY IN LAST 8 MATCHES
Kara Kartal has managed just one victory in their last 8 matches in the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League. In the 2019-2020 season, they faced Slovan Bratislava, Braga, and Wolves, suffering defeats with scores of 4-2, 3-1, and 4-0 respectively. At home, they lost to Wolves 1-0 and Braga 2-1, with their only victory being a 2-1 win against Bratislava. This season, they lost 4-0 to Ajax in the first week of the new Europa League format and then fell 3-1 at home to Frankfurt in the second week.
11TH ENCOUNTER WITH FRENCH TEAMS
The black-and-white team will face French teams for the 11th time in European competitions. Besiktas has previously played against Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Auxerre, and Lyon. In the 8 matches so far, they have recorded 2 victories, 2 draws, and 4 losses. In the 1994-1995 season, they played against Auxerre in the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup, drawing 2-2 at home and losing 2-0 away. In the 1997-1998 season, Besiktas faced Paris Saint-Germain in the group stage, winning 3-1 at home but losing 2-1 in France. In the 2007-2008 season, they played against Marseille in the Champions League group stage, losing 2-0 away but winning 2-1 at home. In the 2016-2017 season, they met Lyon in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. After losing 2-1 away, they won by the same score at home, leading to extra time and penalties, where Besiktas was eliminated.
KARA KARTAL’S ENCOUNTER WITH MONACO
In the 2017-2018 season, Kara Kartal faced Monaco in the group stage of the Champions League. The Istanbul team managed to secure a 2-1 victory against their opponents away, while they ended the home match with a 1-1 draw. This performance added to Besiktas’s competitive history against French teams in European tournaments.
BRONCKHORST FAMILIAR WITH LYON
Besiktas’s head coach, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, is not a stranger to Lyon. During his time managing Glasgow Rangers in the 2021-2022 season, he faced Lyon in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, with his team earning a 1-1 draw in the away match.
LYON’S 13TH ENCOUNTER WITH TURKISH TEAMS
With the match against Besiktas, Lyon will compete for the 13th time against Turkish clubs. Their first European encounter was in the 1991-1992 UEFA Cup against Trabzonspor, where they lost 4-3 and 4-1. In the 1997-1998 season, they faced İstanbulspor in the Intertoto Cup, losing 2-1 away but winning 2-0 at home. Lyon had a successful record against Fenerbahce in the group stages of the Champions League in 2001-2002, winning 1-0 and 3-1, and faced Denizlispor in the UEFA Cup in 2002-2003, drawing 0-0 away and losing 1-0 at home. They met Fenerbahce again in the 2004-2005 Champions League group stage, winning both matches (3-1 and 4-2). In the 2016-2017 season, Lyon faced Besiktas in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, winning 2-1 at home but losing by the same score in the away leg, which led to penalties where Lyon advanced.
BESIKTAS’S INJURIES
Before the match against Lyon, Besiktas faces challenges with injuries, as goalkeepers Mert Gunok and Ersin Destanoğlu are unavailable. Goktuğ Baytekin will step in to guard the net. Additionally, Gabriel Paulista and Milot Rashica will also miss the game due to injuries.
