Eagles look to settle old score against Liverpool

Turkish Super Lig leaders Beşiktaş have the chance today to regain some pride when they travel to England to take on Liverpool in the Europa League round of 32 first leg. Liverpool, five-time European champions, will renew their acquaintance with an old foe in Beşiktaş, who have painful memories of their last visit to Anfield in November 2007 when they were beaten 8-0, a record defeat since the Champions League was reformatted in 1992. Liverpool will be all too aware of the danger posed by Beşiktaş striker Demba Ba, who has five Europa League goals this season.

Ba, with Chelsea last April, took advantage of Steven Gerrard's famous slip on the Anfield turf to score the opening goal in a 2-0 win that effectively cost Liverpool the chance of a first English title for 24 years. Gerrard, currently out with a hamstring injury, is the only survivor from Liverpool's 8-0 win and also from their last European title success in 2005. He would love nothing more to end his last season at the club before moving to the MLS by winning another European trophy.

Guided by Croatian manager Slaven Bilic and Ba, Beşiktaş have proved the most dynamic Super Lig side so far this season. Beşiktaş come into this game on top of the Turkish league and buoyed by a 3-2 win against Bursaspor at the weekend, in which leading scorer Demba Ba netted a late penalty to secure the points. Liverpool must do without Lazar Markovic, who has been given a four-match ban from European competition following his sending-off in the Reds' final Champions League group game against FC Basel in December. Beşiktaş took four points from two games against Tottenham Hotspur in the group stage but the north London club advanced to the last 32 as well and face Fiorentina, with the first leg at White Hart Lane. The race to become the first club to qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League hots up today. UEFA's decision to reward the winners with a place in at least the playoffs for next season's Champions League should spice up the knockout stage, which includes the eight teams who have dropped down from Europe's top tier. There are six former European champions taking part with two of them - Celtic and Inter Milan - facing each other with the opening leg in Glasgow on Thursday before the return on Feb. 26.

Celtic famously became the first British team to be crowned European champions when they beat Inter 2-1 in Lisbon in 1967 but the Scottish champions have had a miserable time against Italian sides more recently and are without a win in seven games with defeats in their last four. Rafa Benitez, who led Liverpool to that success a decade ago, is seeking to become only the second man after Giovanni Trapattoni to win the trophy for a third time after victories with Valencia in 2004 and Chelsea in 2013. His Napoli side take on Trabzonspor with the first leg in Turkey today.

Benitez has warned Trabzonspor that he holds the record for winning a European game by the highest margin of victory before the Europa League Round of 32. Benitez was in charge of the Liverpool side that beat Beşiktaş 8-0 in the 2007-08 Champions League group stages. "In 2007, I was in charge of the Liverpool side that beat Beşiktaş 8-0 in the Champions League, nobody should forget that I hold this record," Benitez told Turkish media.

Of the 119 games Trabzonspor have played in European competitions, 46 have been victories, 31 have been draws while 42 games have ended in defeat. Trabzonspor have scored 158 goals in the 119 games and have conceded 158 times. Trabzonspor's biggest ever victory in a Europe game came in the 2007-08 season against the Albanian side Vllaznia in the UEFA Intertoto cup where the Black Sea Storm recorded a 6-0 victory. The Black Sea-based side's biggest defeat came against Barcelona where they lost by a 7-2 scoreline. Napoli are currently third in Serie A. Benitez's side lost their game on the weekend against Palermo by a 3-1 scoreline. Trabzonspor are fifth in the Turkish Super League with 33 points in 20 games.