Turks await British hopefuls

The shadow of Besiktas is hanging over the three British seeds – Liverpool, Newcastle and Celtic – ahead of the UEFA Cup draw tomorrow.

UEFA have begun disciplinary proceedings against the Turkish club following crowd trouble at the Champions League match with Chelsea on Tuesday in Gelsenkirchen.

Besiktas lost the match, tumbled out of the group and into the third round of the UEFA Cup.

Surprisingly they are not among the third round seeds, setting up a potentially explosive clash against one of the British trio.

Another unseeded Turkish club is Gaziantepspor, which is only 50 miles from the Syrian border.

The good news for Liverpool, Newcastle and Celtic is that they will avoid the likes of Barcelona, Inter, Roma and Galatasaray.

There are some dangerous sides, however, in the bottom half of the draw.

Polish club Groclin eliminated Manchester City in the second round while the Turks of Genclerbirligi disposed of Blackburn.

Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk are also seen as another team to avoid, if only for the travelling involved.

The teams are to be divided into four groups of eight, four seeded and four non-seeded.

However the format will not be decided until tomorrow as Valencia and Maccabi Haifa play tonight.