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Besiktas to host Arsenal in Istanbul

Turkish football club Basiktas to host Arsenal in Istanbul on August 19

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00:00 - 19/08/2014 Tuesday
Update: 18:39 - 19/08/2014 Tuesday
Yeni Şafak
Besiktas to host Arsenal in Istanbul
Besiktas to host Arsenal in Istanbul

Turkish club Besiktas will host London team Arsenal in Istanbul on Tuesday as the first leg matches of the UEFA Champions League playoff begin.

"I have high respect for Besiktas," said Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger in a press conference on Monday as reported on the Turkish club's website.

"In last season's match against Fenerbahce, we faced a lot of pressure from home fans, and I am sure it is not going to be any different in this game," he added.

"We are ready," replied Black Eagles manager Slaven Bilic that same day in a press conference, still according to the club's website. "We also have dreams and the capacity to implement them."

In total, 20 teams will compete in 10 matches in order to qualify for the group stages of one of football's most prestigious competitions, the Champions League.

All games kick off at 1945 GMT.

Fixture of the matches is as follows:

Tuesday, August 19:

Salzburg (Austria) vs Malmo (Sweden)

Steaua Bucharest (Romania) vs Ludogorets (Bulgaria)

Besiktas (Turkey) vs Arsenal (England)

Copenhagen (Denmark) vs Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

Napoli (Italy) vs Athletic Bilbao (Spain)

Wednesday, August 20:

Lille (France) vs Porto (Portugal)

Standard Liege (Belgium) vs Zenit (Russia)

Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) vs BATE Borisov (Belarus)

Aalborg (Denmark) vs APOEL (Greek Populated Southern Cyprus)

Maribor (Slovenia) vs Celtic (Scotland)

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