Unfamiliar situation

Barca, Man Utd, Bayern in Champions League qualifiers

LONDON (AP) -- The start of their Champions League season is far from glamorous for Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

The three European powers finished below the top two in their domestic leagues, meaning last season's semifinalist Barca, 2001 champion Bayern and 1999 winner United must qualify for the group stages of Europe's top league.

The three start play Wednesday as Manchester United travels to Budapest to play little-known Hungarian team Zalaegerszegi, Barcelona hosts Poland's Legia Warsaw and Bayern goes to Yugoslavia to play Partizan Belgrade.

Five third-round, first-leg qualifying matches are Tuesday with 11 on Wednesday. The return legs are Aug. 27-28 with the survivors reaching the full-blown group stage Sept. 17 18.

United is likely to be without new 30 million pound (US$45 million) signing Rio Ferdinand, who injured his left ankle in a preseason friendly against Boca Juniors on Saturday. French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez is also doubtful with a thigh injury.

"Wednesday's game is the penalty we pay for finishing third in the Premiership," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "It won't be easy but it's essential we get through. There is a desire among the squad to make amends for last season. They have a hunger about them and they are very well focused."

Other high profile matchups Tuesday are: Boavista vs. Auxerre and UEFA Cup winner Feyenoord vs. Fenerbahce. Wednesday sees Sporting Lisbon vs. Inter Milan, AC Milan vs. Slovan Liberec, Celtic vs. FC Basel and Sarajevo's NK Zeljeznicar vs. Newcastle.

Barcelona's match against Legia Warsaw will be coach Louis Van Gaal's first European match with the club since its Champions League semifinal elimination by Valencia in 2000.

Van Gaal resigned soon after and was reappointed three months ago after the Catalan powerhouse failed to win a trophy in his absence.

"We're on the right road. We're improving with every game," midfielder Philip Cocu said. "The Champions League is always harder when you have to play the second leg away. The most important thing is to make sure that we don't concede a goal."

Bayern Munich had a disappointing start to the Bundesliga, drawing 0-0 with Monchengladbach on Sunday.

"We played well enough, but we must improve," Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. "We are lacking in freshness. That was the first game in which we had to go to our limits."

Hitzfeld was content with World Cup goalie Oliver Kahn while new signings Michael Ballack and Ze Roberto settled in well with midfielder partner Jens Jeremies.

UEFA Cup winner Feyenoord is playing down its chances ahead of its match with Turkey's Fenerbahce.

Feyenoord trainer Bert van Marwijk said the Rotterdam club wasn't prepared because several players had taken longer than expected to heal from last season's injuries.

"Our advantage is that we certainly won't underestimate them," Van Marwijk said.

Sporting Lisbon goes into its first official game without Brazilian striker Mario Jardel, who had 42 goals last season. Jardel hasn't trained for two weeks, citing depression after his recent separation from his wife.

Portuguese striker Joao Pinto is also out -- serving out his four month suspension for punching a referee who sent him off during the World Cup.

With the Italian league season slated to start Sept. 1, Milan's two clubs will face their first serious tests of the season.

"It's an essential match, we can't lose concentration," Inter coach Hector Cuper said.

Superstriker Ronaldo, who led Brazil to its fifth World Cup title little more than a month ago, is not expected to suit up for Inter's match. His absence means Uruguay's Alvaro Recoba or Sierra Leone's Mohamed Kallon will likely join Italian national team star Christian Vieri in Inter's attack.

Vieri is expected to play despite minor leg problems.

"If he plays 10 minutes or 90 minutes he's devastating," Cuper said.

AC Milan plays Czech club Slovan Liberec.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti's toughest decision is where to play new signing Rivaldo. The club already has two top strikers in Italy's Filippo Inzaghi and Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko.

"Rivaldo can play behind the forwards," Ancelotti said. "That way I can make better use of his talents. This Milan is the strongest team, from an offensive standpoint, that I've ever coached.

It's five years since English club Newcastle appeared in the Champions League qualifying. This season the club wants to reach the group stage for the first time. The Magpies will be without injured Gary Speed and Carl Cort, but summer signings Titus Bramble and Hugo Viana are included in the squad.

Lokomotiv Moscow hopes to start scoring goals when it plays Austria's Grazer AK. Lokomotiv has scored only seven goals in eight games since the World Cup.

"The numbers would cause me more anxiety if we had not been creating chances, midfielder Vladimir Maminov said.

Grazer is in disarray after coach Thijs Libregts was sacked Monday after a 1-0 defeat against SV Salzburg, which left the Austrian title favorites at the bottom of the table.

The full schedule:

Tuesday: APOEL Nicosia vs. AEK Athens; KRC Genk vs. Sparta Prague; Maccabi Haifa vs. Sturm Graz; Feyenoord vs. Fenerbahce; Boavista vs. Auxerre.

Wednesday: Sporting Lisbon vs. Inter Milan; AC Milan vs. Slovan Liberec; Rosenborg vs. Brondby; Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Club Brugge; Barcelona vs. Legia; Levski Sofia vs. Dynamo Kiev; NK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo vs. Newcastle; Partizan vs. Bayern Munich; Celtic vs. FC Basel; Zalaegerszegi vs. Manchester United; Grazer AK vs. FC Lokomotiv Moscow.

 

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