Hello Gooners! I am back, after what I realized was my first extended blog break since I created this blog. To that end, I will like to congratulate all Arsenal fans worldwide. We kept the faith and had to wait 3,283 days for silverware; Arsenal have now won two trophies in less than four months... Get used to winning trophies guys.
One important factor that kept us relevant as a top team in Europe during our nine years of drought was our consistent appearance in the group stage of the UEFA Champions league. Now we are looking to secure a place in the lucrative group stage of
Europe's elite club competition for a 17th consecutive campaign.
Date: Tuesday, Aug. 19, at 7:45 p.m.
Venue: Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey
UEFA have appointed Milorad Mazic to referee the first leg Champions League qualifier between Besiktas and Arsenal.
Milorad Mazic refereed the Argentina vs Iran game and the Germany vs Portugal game at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The 41-year-old referee’s motto is, “You can’t please everyone”.
Milovan Ristic and Dalibor Djurdjevic will be the lines-men while Vladimir Jovanovic will be the forth official.
Wenger: "We want to be in the Champions League group stage... We are desperate to go through, no matter what it costs we want to go
through. We have always had a difficult draw, we had Fenerbahce last year,
this time we have Besiktas. It's difficult. "
Slaven Bilic's side, who finished third in the Turkish Super League
last season, do not begin their domestic campaign until later this
month, although they were convincing winners against Feyenoord in the
third qualifying round, with former Chelsea striker Demba Ba scoring a
hat-trick in the second leg.
"Arsenal have some of the best
players in the world but we have seen on many occasions that talent
doesn't necessarily mean a team will win," said the Croatian Bilic, who
played in England for West Ham United and Everton.
Besiktas have faced English opposition 14 times in Europe, winning four, drawing three and losing seven.
The Eagles have scored 11 times against English opposition and conceded 27 goals.
This will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs, with the winner over the two legs going into the draw for the group stage of the tournament.
Recent form
Besiktas: LWW
Arsenal: WLWLWW
Possible starting lineups
Besiktas: Zengen; Kurtulus, Sahan, Pektemek, Hutchinson; Ozyakup, Uysal, Frei, Gulu, Ramon; Ba
Arsenal: Szczesny; Monreal, Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny; Arteta, Sanchez, Ramsey, Rosicky, Campbell; Giroud
The remaining five play-off first legs will be played on Wednesday, with the returns to come next midweek.
Champions League fixtures on Tuesday (kick-offs 18:45 GMT):
Play-offs 1st leg:
Besiktas (TUR) v Arsenal (ENG)
FC Copenhagen (DEN) v Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Steaua Bucharest (ROM) v Ludogorets (BUL)
Napoli (ITA) v Athletic Bilbao (ESP)
Salzburg (AUT) v Malmo (SWE)
#OptimisticGooner predicts Besiktas 1-3 Arsenal.
