In Bruges: United hope to book Champions spot

BERLIN: Manchester United and Valencia take 3-1 leads into the second leg of their Champions League play-offs this midweek while Lazio must defend a precarious single-goal advantage to ensure their progress.

United head to Belgium to meet Club Brugge tomorrow while Lazio are in Germany tussling with Bayer Leverkusen in a bid to protect their 1-0 first leg advantage. The highlight of tonight’s games sees Valencia try to progress away to Monaco.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal may start German World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger in the return leg with Brugge after he played 60 minutes of his side’s draw with Newcastle at the weekend.

Van Gaal could utilise his experience as United look to book their place in Thursday’s draw for the group stage.

Striker Wayne Rooney said reaching the groups was the minimum requirement for United. “For a club this size we have to be in the Champions League,” he said. “Last season we were disappointed and the most important thing for us was making sure we got back into the competition this year, getting those special nights back here.”

“Getting the third goal (in the 3-1 first-leg win) makes it a lot more difficult for them and it will give us a bit more confidence.”

Valencia go to Monte Carlo without the injured Diego Alves and Andres Gomes.

Australian youngster Mathew Ryan will be in goal instead of Alves and coach Nuno Espirito expressed complete confidence in the back-up. “He is a goalkeeper of great promise and quality,” said the Portuguese coach, who was a goalkeeper himself.

“He still has to improve in a couple of areas, but he is doing very well in general”

Ryan impressed in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Rayo Vallecano, in which Nuno rested several regulars with Monaco in mind.

Lazio are likely to miss Argentine international Lucas Biglia, who pulled his right calf after scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 defeat against Bologna Saturday in the Serie A season opener.

Coach Stefano Pioli is already without goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, and strikers Filip Djordjevic and German veteran Miroslav Klose, who injured himself in the first leg win over Leverkusen.

“The next game is vital. It will tell us in which European tournament we will play,” Pioli said. “We are certainly competitive despite the injuries.”

Leverkusen boast a 100 percent record in surviving four-out-four previous Champions League play-offs and will rue the decision that disallowed a potential crucial away goal in Rome.

Recent signing Charles Aranguiz is out with a torn Achilles’ tendon but coach Roger Schmidt is in a confident mood after consecutive Bundesliga victories.

“We’re very strong at home and haven’t conceded a goal in months,” he said. “And if Lazio score then we’ll just have to put three past them.”

In tonight’s other games, Shakhtar Donetsk host Rapid Vienna in Lviv defending a 1-0 lead and Dinamo Zagreb are 2-1 up from their visit to Skenderbeu. Celtic protect a 3-2 advantage in Malmo while Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Basel are delicately poised at 2-2.

Tomorrow, Astna are 1-0 in front going into their away leg with APOEL, as are BATE when they travel to Partizan Belgrade. Sporting Lisbon will try to defend their 2-1 home lead over CSKA Moscow.

Astana’s match-up, in par- ticular, is set to serve the type of drama and tension often missing in the group stages as they justle to become the first Kazakh team to reach the Champions League proper.

“Astana’s victory doesn’t mean they have more of a chance of going through than we do,” said APOEL coach Domingos Paciencia. “We still have the game at home, where we will have our fans and good support.”

If Astana qualify, it could create logistical problems for their group stage opponents who would have to fly several thousand kilometres across five or six time zones to Central Asia for a midweek game. – DPA and Reuters