Turkish side Besiktas host French outfit Lyon at the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul on Thursday for the second leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-finals tie. Lyon fought back to win the first leg 2-1 last week, Ryan Babel had opened the scoring early on for Besiktas but Lyon scored on 83 and 85 minutes to turn things around and get a slight advantage ahead of the second leg. Besiktas have been granted a rest at the weekend by the Turkish FA, they have not played any league matches since the first leg last Thursday.
Besiktas are at the top of the Turkish Super Lig table, they have not lost a competitive match since February and are the favourites to win the title. They have been strong at home all season, losing just one match in the Turkish Cup. They held the likes of Benfica and Napoli to draws in Istanbul as they finished third in their Champions League group. Vincent Aboubakar and Marcelo are suspended for this match, while Portuguese star Ricardo Quaresma is an injury doubt ahead of Thursday's game.
Lyon can't hope to finish inside the Ligue 1 top three this season, so their only hope of reaching the Champions League would be through going all the way in the Europa League. Last weekend they had a tense trip to Bastia, the match was called off after a pitch invasion so you might say that the players are well-rested ahead of the trip to Istanbul. Mathieu Valbuena and Emanuel Mammana are injury doubts ahead of the match, while Rafael will miss out through suspension.
Probable line-ups:
Besiktas: Fabri - Gonul, Tosic, Mitrovic, Adriano - Ozyakup, Hutchinson - Quaresma, Talisca, Babel - Tosun
Lyon: Lopes - Jallet, Mammana, Diakhaby, Morel - Tolisso, Gonalons, Tousart - Valbuena - Lacazette, Fekir
My prediction: Besiktas to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Besiktas win - 2.63
Draw - 3.60
Lyon win - 2.70
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