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UEFA Champions League action resumed on Tuesday with two more teams securing their place among 16 teams to play in the second round. PSG, Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Manchester City were joined by Real Madrid and Besiktas.
The Turkish side have picked up three wins and two draws from their five games and qualified for the knockout stages.
Winning it all might be too hard of a task for Senol Gunes' men, but they could cause trouble to all the big teams and might go quite far. Here are five reasons why.
#5 Squad depth
The Turkish teams have always been unpredictable in Europe. They blow hot and cold, capable of playing very good football and beating some really good teams some days, but losing heavily on other nights.
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Besiktas were pretty close to qualifying last year as well, but their campaign ended on a drab note. They played Dynamo Kiev away from home in the final round and ended up losing 6-0 to a side that had scored only two goals in the previous five outings. Besiktas finished with seven points, one less than Benfica, who finished runners-up in the group.
A year later, the team has learned its lessons from the failure in Ukraine and has come back stronger mentally, while also boasting a better squad.
Gunes added Pepe, Gary Medel, Alvaro Negredo and Jeremain Lens to the mix during the summer transfer window. All are proven internationals, who have played at a very high level. Pepe has three Champions League wins to his name, Medel has been a vital part of a successful Chile side, Negredo's been a prolific goalscorer in top European leagues and Lens has been an outstanding player wherever he's been. Plus a World Cup bronze winner from 2014.
All, but Pepe, aren't even regulars for Besiktas this season, which shows their depth well. In previous transfer windows, the club has added the likes of Adriano, a two-time Champions League winner, and Ryan Babel to the side. Gunes has a very good squad at his disposal.
Also, the well-known players aren't just washed up talents. For example, Babel has four goals and two assists to his name in the Turkish league and two goals and one assist in Europe.
#4 Manager Senol Gunes
To have success as a smaller side in a competition full of top teams, you need a great tactician in charge of the team. Besiktas seems to have one with the 65-year-old Gunes.
He was the man in charge in 2002, when Turkey ended up finishing 3rd at the World Cup. They lost just 1-0 in the semi-finals against eventual winner Brazil as Ronaldo scored the lone goal in the 2nd half. The two also met in the group stage and the Brazilians needed a late Rivaldo penalty to get a 2-1 win.
In the knockout stages, the Ronaldo goal was the only one Turkey conceded before a 3rd place playoff against South Korea, which they won 3-2.
Gunes seems to know his stuff when it comes to playing in sudden death situations and that will be a very valuable asset for Besiktas on their quest of progressing even further in the Champions League.
The former goalkeeper was hired in 2015 and he's won the league title on both occasions since then. Before that, Besiktas hadn't won it since 2009. The Black Eagles also already caused some noise in Europe last season with only a penalty shootout loss to Lyon keeping them away from the Europa League semis.
With some better luck, maybe Besiktas can reach the semi-finals stage this season in the Champions League.
#3 Home form
Playing in Turkey is an extraordinary experience for all visiting teams. They face an extremely hostile atmosphere, which always seems to be one of the main talking points during the pre-game press conferences.
The usual answers from opposing managers tend to be that they have previously played in the same conditions and it shouldn't be a problem. Some even say that they will enjoy it. But the truth is that visiting side do tend to struggle in Turkey.
After a 1-1 draw with Porto on Tuesday, Besiktas boast a 12-game unbeaten home run in Europe. From the last 20 home outings, they have lost just one. The players will be able to play every home game with confidence, knowing they are very tough to beat at home.
Opened in April 2016, the Vodafone Park is a very new stadium, but it's already turned into a fortress for Besiktas. They have lost only one game in regular time there, which was back in February, a cup tie against Fenerbahce.
In the local league, Besiktas last lost a home match in November 2015. They have gone 33 games without a defeat, a run that includes 26 wins. Nobody has it easy there and I imagine even the likes of Barcelona and Manchester City could struggle at the stadium that is set to host the 2019 UEFA Super Cup.
#2 Cenk Tosun
As noted previously, Besiktas has a lot of well-known players in the squad, and I haven't even mentioned the wonderful Ricardo Quaresma. However, striker Cenk Tosun seems to be the most important one.
The 26-year-old had 20 goals in 33 appearances in the Turkish league last season. Only Brazilian Vagner Love got more with 23. This year, Tosun has had a bit of a slow start in the local league with five goals in 11 games, but he's been on fire in Europe.
With five games played, Tosun has four goals to his name in the Champions League. Only Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo have scored more with five and six respectively. The Germany-born striker also has two assists to his name. The second one coming on Tuesday after some incredible piece of skill and work rate shown.
In total, Besiktas has scored nine goals in Group G, which shows you how vital Tosun's play is for the whole team. He's a key player for them, even though the likes of Quaresma and Brazilian Talisca get most of the headlines.
Tosun's play this season is showing that he's very well capable of carrying a side in the Champions League and even the best defences will have their hands full with him.
#1 Finishing as group winners
Besiktas dominated Group G. They started off by winning their first three games and actually could've easily been through already with only four games played. Monaco denied them that with a 1-1 draw, even though they were outplayed most of the match.
Against Porto, Besiktas needed only a draw to secure a 1st place finish in the group and Talisca's third Champions League goal this season brought them the desired result. Now they can look forward to the Round of 16 draw in hope of maybe facing a weaker side.
There are many high calibre 2nd place finishers in the Champions League and some say that it doesn't even actually matter if you qualify as the winner or runner-up in your group, that the next opponent will be tough regardless, but it isn't true.
The group winners this season likely include PSG, Man City, Barcelona, Man United and other top teams. Among the runners-up, there's a chance there will be teams like Basel, Spartak Moscow and Shakhtar Donetsk. I know which teams I'd rather face if I was in charge of a team.
Besiktas has a good chance of facing an opponent of similar or even worse quality in the next round, and with the final only a couple of steps away when you reach the quarter-finals, anything can happen.
