A true Mexican stand-off between Beşiktaş, Benfica and Napoli


Group B in the Champions League is a total mess right now, and the only thing that is certain is that Dynamo Kiev are already done. Benfica and Napoli have eight points and Napoli has the advantage of having beaten the Portuguese side in this duel. Right after them, Beşiktaş stand in the third spot with seven points, having the advantage over Napoli courtesy of their away win. If this week Beşiktaş beat Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine, the Eagles will qualify for the next round given Benfica and Napoli play against each other. But if they only get one point from Ukraine, and Napoli and Benfica also get one point against each other, Beşiktaş will head to the Europa League and the two teams will qualify to the next round in the Champions League together. Nevertheless, if Benfica beat Napoli while Beşiktaş draw with Dynamo Kiev, the Turkish side will qualify.As you can see, even without considering goal difference, this is already a complex situation in Group B. It has been a very competitive group stage for all three teams. Only Dynamo Kiev have failed to enter the race. Every team has put in a decent amount of effort and whoever says goodbye to the Champions League will have missed out only through minimal errors. Beşiktaş have not lost a game yet, and they certainly have done much more than what was expected from this team. Although I would prefer to see Beşiktaş play a much more daring game even though it may lead to worse results, we have to acknowledge the fact that coach Şenol Güneş and his team deserve to be in the next round with their dedication and hard work.Napoli and Benfica on the other hand, hardly pushed their limits in the group stage and what they lacked in competitive spirit they compensated for with their individual and tactical superiority against Beşiktaş. Especially Napoli could have won the two games they played against Beşiktaş easily, but they refused to finish off Beşiktaş with their awful finishing performance and half-hearted efforts. This week they will face an opponent that poses a considerably greater tactical danger and who can play very fast as long as they do not consume all of their energy. If Napoli wants to get out of this group without listening to the game in Ukraine while playing the one in Portugal, they have to get serious as they did in the first game against Benfica, in which they beat their opponent with four goals.However, Benfica has to be very clever about how and where to spend their energy against Napoli. Against Beşiktaş, they could not hold on to their-three goal lead due to their fatigue in the second half, and their opponent did not even threaten them with a serious strategy. The Portuguese side definitely knows how to conduct deadly counter-attacks and how to cripple the opponent's attack, but they have to master how to spend their energy more economically if they want to beat Napoli and climb to the top in the Champions League.Lastly, Beşiktaş have always been and still are a complete mystery, and there is no evidence that they can beat their relatively weak opponent who are out of the race. Last weekend the Eagles were very unimpressive against their archrivals Fenerbahçe, completely leaving the initiative to their opponent and not creating a single opportunity. Thus, even though Beşiktaş have not lost a game this season and definitely know how to survive under tough conditions, it is a huge question mark whether they know how to score when they ought to score. Given the team have lost much of their offensive power with Anderson Talisca and Caner Erkin's injuries, added to the losses of Mario Gomez and Jose at in the beginning of the season, Beşiktaş have slowly become a dull team who only survive, not create. This time, Beşiktaş have to show something different, something beyond their usual if they want to continue in the Champions League, but they have to keep in mind that Kiev are a tough nut to crack.