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Historic debut Haifa's visit to Man Utd headlines Wednesday in EuropePosted: Tuesday September 17, 2002 12:29 PMLONDON (AP) -- Maccabi Haifa makes history as the first Israeli team to play in the Champions League when it goes to mighty Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday. While it might sound like a terrifying soccer baptism, now might be the perfect time to take on the ailing Reds. Alex Ferguson's United has made its worst ever start to the Premier League, with Roy Keane injured and suspended and maybe facing another long ban stemming from his controversial autobiography. Paul Scholes also is out and Nicky Butt very doubtful. The form of David Beckham, star striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and Juan Sebastian Veron also is shaky, leaving Maccabi with a great chance to make its mark before 67,000 fans. "We are going to a place which no Israeli footballer has ever reached with an Israeli club," said Maccabi coach Yitzhak Shum, whose players are all fit and available. UEFA has ruled that Haifa must play its Champions League "home" games in Cyprus, fearing that players or fans visiting Israel could be caught up in the Palestinian-Israeli violence. United has lost its last two Premier League games against Bolton and Leeds. But Van Nistelrooy, who scored 36 times last season, is not downhearted despite the fact that his only goal in six league games so far came from the penalty spot. "I'm not panicking," the Dutchman said. "I have actually scored three from eight games in all matches so I am not worried about that at all. These things happen to strikers. There will be a day when it will all be OK again." In the other Group F game Wednesday, last season's runner-up Bayer Leverkusen visits Greek champion Olympiakos. Leverkusen comes off a 3-1 loss to Hannover and is without injured Jens Nowotny, Argentine defender Diego Placente and Brazilian Juan missing. Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov is struggling with a leg muscle injury. Another Brazilian, Giovanni, is set to replace striker Lambros Houtos on the Olympiakos lineup. With nine titles between them, AC Milan and Bayern Munich are favorites to advance from Group G, even though rival Deportivo de La Coruna has reached the quarterfinals for the second season in a row. Rivaldo is expected to make his Champions League debut for five-time champion Milan against French runner-up Lens, which has lost Senegal star El Hadji Diouf to Liverpool. Munich takes on Deportivo with star midfielder Michael Ballack seemingly recovered from a bruised left foot. But Mehmet Scholl, Sebastian Deisler and Roque Santa Cruz remain absent with long-term injuries. Bayern's Brazilian striker Giovane Elber said his team had to play tight defense. "Otherwise we won't have a chance," he said. "It's a team without weaknesses. I'd rather play against Real Madrid, at least you know they are weak in the defense. "We have a dream and we have a team that can win the Champions League. "Real is the big favorite -- until they play against us." Deportivo's visit to Munich finishes off an 11,719 kilometer (7,324 mile) series of journeys in a week -- a Copa del Rey game in the Canary Islands followed by a league match on Sunday at Osasuna in the north of Spain. Italian champion Juventus goes to UEFA Cup holder Feyenoord in Group E, while Newcastle goes to Dynamo Kiev. Juve's Alessandro Del Piero is in standout form already, scoring twice in his team's league win over Atalanta on Sunday. He also scored in Italy's Euro 2000 qualifying group victory at Azerbaijan 10 days ago. "He's really started well," said Juve coach Marcello Lippi. "His legs, his feet and, above all, his head." With home advantage at its De Kuip stadium, Feyenoord hopes it won't be outplayed again after being beaten 3-1 by Real Madrid in the European Super Cup at Monaco 2 1/2 weeks ago. Paul Bosvelt will probably miss the game following the death of his father on Tuesday. Newcastle manager Bobby Robson has won the UEFA Cup with Ipswich and Cup Winners Cup with Barcelona as well as capturing domestic titles with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and Portugal's FC Porto. Now he aims to complete the set. If the Magpies' domestic form is anything to go by -- next to last in the standings -- he may not get past the first round. Kiev will field 19-year-old rookie goalkeeper Rustam Khudzhamov in place of regular starter Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, who has been forced to undergo surgery to repair a knee problem and will be out for a month. After its humiliating loss to third division Novelda in the Copa del Rey, Barcelona lifted itself with an impressive 2-0 league victory over Athletic de Bilbao on Sunday. With coach Louis van Gaal naming the same lineup, that means no place for Argentine midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme. Van Gaal says he believes the youngster has not yet fitted into the team's playing style. Barcelona takes on Belgium's Bruges, while Turkey's Galatasaray visits Lokomotiv Moscow in Group H. Champions League matches in Groups E-HLONDON (Reuters) -- Bayern Munich take on Deportivo Coruna, while Manchester United host Israel's first ever representative Maccabi Haifa as the Champions League action continues on Wednesday. UEFA Cup holders Feyenoord are at home to Juventus, whose Serie A rivals AC Milan travel to northern France to face Lens. Following are brief previews with probable teams for Wednesday's matches (kickoff 1845 GMT): Group E FEYENOORD v JUVENTUS UEFA Cup winners Feyenoord might be kicking off their Champions League campaign without captain Paul Bosvelt after he missed training on Monday following a family tragedy. "Paul must decide for himself whether he wants to play, but I think he won't," said coach Bert van Marwijk. Otherwise Van Marwijk has no major selection worries over a team who limbered up for Wednesday's game with a 5-1 league win at Twente Enschede. Feyenoord: 1-Edwin Zoetebier; 23-Brett Emerton, 8-Kees van Wonderen, 20-Ferry de Haan, 5-Ramon van Haaren; 24-Chong-gug Song, 17-Patrick Paauwe, 14-Shinji Ono, 25-Sebastian Pardo, 19-Thomas Buffel, 9-Pierre van Hooijdonk Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids, suspended for Juve's 3-0 Serie A opening day win over Atalanta, is expected to return to the side with Davide Baiocco the most likely to step down. With France's David Trezeguet still sidelined, Marco Di Vaio is set to start in attack alongside Alessandro Del Piero, who scored twice on Sunday. Gianluca Zambrotta and Gianluca Pessotto are long-term injured, while Igor Tudor and Mark Iuliano are short of match fitness after injury. Juventus: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 21-Lilian Thuram, 4-Paolo Montero, 2-Ciro Ferrara, 24-Emiliano Moretti; 16-Mauro Camoranesi, 26-Edgar Davids, 3-Alessio Tacchinardi; 11-Pavel Nedved; 10-Alessandro Del Piero, 18-Marco Di Vaio Referee: Antonio Jesus Lopez Nieto (Spain) DYNAMO KIEV v NEWCASTLE UNITED Goalkeeper Olexander Shovkovsky is out after knee surgery, while doubts remain over the fitness of Goran Gavrancic and Laszlo Bodnar, who have both have appendicitis. Head coach Alexei Mikhailichenko told reporters: "They are training with the rest of the team, but it is not certain whether they will play." Vitaly Reva will replace Shovkovsky, with 19-year-old reserve keeper Rustem Khudzhamov on the bench. Mikhailichenko attached little importance to the fact that Newcastle are coming off two straight defeats in the premier league. "Those were completely different matches," he said. "Newcastle are a very strong and serious team. We are under no illusions." Dynamo: 12-Vitaly Reva; 2-Olexander Khatkevych, 17-Tiberiu Gioane, 35-Goran Sablic, 26-Andrei Nesmachniy; 9-Badr Kadduri, 10-Florin Cernat, 14-Andriy Gusin, 11-Georgy Peev; 16-Maxim Shatskikh, 19-Machadu Leandro Newcastle manager Bobby Robson is expected to keep faith with the side that lost 3-0 at Chelsea on Saturday. With his senior squad free of injury, Robson's main anxieties will again focus on a suspect defense which has conceded nine goals in five league games. Striker Lomana LuaLua, who lost his place in the starting line-up to Craig Bellamy, will be among the substitutes alongside central defender Titus Bramble, who has been blamed by many supporters for Newcastle's poor start to the season. Newcastle: 1-Shay Given; 18-Aaron Hughes, 34-Nikos Dabizas, 5-Andy O'Brien, 35-Olivier Bernard; 4-Nolberto Solano, 8-Kieron Dyer, 11-Gary Speed, 32-Laurent Robert; 10-Craig Bellamy, 9-Alan Shearer. Referee: Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez (Spain) Group F MANCHESTER UNITED v MACCABI HAIFA Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has midfield problems as he waits to discover if Nicky Butt (hip) and Juan Sebastian Veron (groin) will be fit. Roy Keane (hip) and Paul Scholes (knee) are definitely out through injury and defender Wes Brown (ankle) and Quinton Fortune (Achilles) are also still missing. Gary Neville may return at right back after recovering from the foot injury that kept him out of England's World Cup squad. United: 1-Fabien Barthez; 2-Gary Neville, 5-Laurent Blanc, 6-Rio Ferdinand, 27-Mikael Silvestre; 7-David Beckham, 3-Phil Neville, 4-Juan Sebastian Veron, 11-Ryan Giggs; 20-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 10-Ruud van Nistelrooy. Maccabi Haifa left for Manchester on Tuesday morning with an almost fully-fit squad after a late night training session on Monday. Defender Alon Harazi and defensive midfielder Raimondas Zautatas came through the session unscathed after both had picked up knocks in their 5-0 league victory over Hapoel Kfar Sava on Saturday. "It's true that we had a good win on Saturday, but Manchester United are another proposition entirely, there is still much we need to do to be ready," midfielder Giovanni Rosso said. Haifa are without leading striker, Ayegbeni Yakoubu, who is suspended for one match after picking up a red card in the 3-3 draw at Sturm Graz in the third qualifying round last month. New recruit Michael Zandberg, signed from Hapoel Petah Tikva before the transfer deadline, will replace him. Haifa: 44-Dudu Awat, 3-Alon Harazi, 4-Arik Benado, 6-Adoram Keisi, 19-Eri Ejiofor; 2-Raimondas Zautautas, 5-Walid Badir, 28-Nenad Prelja, 11-Giovanni Rosso; 13-Michael Zandberg, 20-Yaniv Katan Referee: Paul Allaerts (Belgium) OLYMPIAKOS PIRAEUS v BAYER LEVERKUSEN Olympiakos Piraeus goalkeeper Dimitris Eleftheropoulos is a slight doubt after picking up a thigh injury. The Greek champions will be without striker Lambros Houtos (calf), though Alekos Alexandris returns after being rested in Sunday's 2-2 draw at Iraklis. France international Christian Karembeu will start after making his comeback from injury at the weekend. Olympiakos: 31-Dimitris Eleftheropoulos; 2-Christos Patsatzoglou, 3-Stelios Venetidis, 18-Paraskevas Antzas, 32-Giorgos Anatolakis; 7-Stelios Giannakopoulos, 8-Christian Karembeu, 11-Predrag Djordjevic, 12-Ze Elias; 20-Par Zetterberg, 30-Alekos Alexandris Bayer Leverkusen, last season's Champions League finalists, continued a disappointing start to the season by losing 3-1 at home to newly promoted Hanover 96 in the Bundesliga on Saturday. Their second defeat in five games left them 13th in the 18-team table, eight points behind leaders Bayern Munich. Coach Klaus Toppmoeller has a defensive problems for the game against Olympiakos with German international Jens Nowotny, Argentina's Diego Placente and Brazilian Juan all injured. Toppmoeller will also be without Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov, who has been hampered by a stiff thigh muscle. Czech midfielder Jan Simak, who has failed to impress Toppmoeller since joining from Hanover 96, is set to be dropped in favour of Croatia's Jurica Vranjes. Bayer: 1-Hans-Joerg Butt; 14-Hanno Balitsch, 6-Boris Zivkovic, 3-Lucio, 19-Marko Babic; 15-Jurica Vranjes, 28-Carsten Ramelow, 25-Bernd Schneider, 10-Yildiray Basturk; 23-Thomas Brdaric, 27-Oliver Neuville Referee: Arturo Dauden Ibanez (Spain) Group G BAYERN MUNICH v DEPORTIVO CORUNA Bayern will probably be without Germany playmaker Michael Ballack, who bruised his left foot in Saturday's 2-1 win at Nuremberg and could not train on Sunday and Monday. France wing-back Bixente Lizarazu is another doubtful starter because of back pain. Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said a final decision on whether Ballack and Lizarazu could play would be made after the final training session. Michael Tarnat could step in for Lizarazu on the left side of the defense while England's Owen Hargreaves is an option if Ballack is left out. Bayern: 1-Oliver Kahn; 2-Willy Sagnol, 8-Robert Kovac, 25-Thomas Linke, 18-Michael Tarnat; 20-Hasan Salihamidzic, 16-Jens Jeremies, 23-Owen Hargreaves, 11-Ze Roberto; 9-Elber, 14-Claudio Pizarro Deportivo's first choice goalkeeper Jose Molina is out with a knee injury and will be replaced by the experienced Juanmi. Injuries to Cesar and Portuguese international Jorge Andrade and a suspension for right back Lionel Scaloni could mean that 39-year-old Donato is called upon to partner Hector, Noureddine Naybet and Enrique Romero in defense. Argentine midfielder Aldo Duscher is also suspended while striker Diego Tristan missed the trip to Munich due to an inflamed right ankle. New signing Albert Luque will be on the bench, probably alongside Paraguay's Roberto Acuna. Deportivo: 25-Juanmi; 24-Hector, 4-Noureddine Naybet, 20-Donato, 3-Enrique Romero; 18-Victor, 6-Mauro Silva, 16-Sergio, 10-Fran; 21-Juan Carlos Valeron, 7-Roy Makaay Referee: Graham Poll (England) AC MILAN v RC LENS Brazilian World Cup winner Rivaldo, who began Milan's 3-0 Serie A win over Modena on the bench, is expected to start with Denmark striker Jon Dahl Tomasson stepping down. In midfield, Clarence Seedorf could make way for the more defense-minded Massimo Ambrosini. With last season's first-choice goalkeeper Christian Abbiati fit again, Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti must decide whether to recall him to the team or keep faith with Brazilian Dida. Milan: 12-Dida; 14-Dario Simic, 13-Alessandro Nesta, 3-Paolo Maldini, 4-Kakha Kaladze; 8-Gennaro Gattuso, 21-Andrea Pirlo, 20-Clarence Seedorf (or 23-Massimo Ambrosini); 10-Rui Costa, 11-Rivaldo; 9-Filippo Inzaghi Lens, playing in the Champions League for the second time since winning the French title in 1998, will be without tough midfield ball winner Cyril Rool. "The most interesting thing with this match will be to review what are our strengths and weaknesses," coach Joel Muller said. "Milan have a great will to win the trophy." Lens: 1-Guillaume Warmuz; 14-Ferdinand Coly, 6-Jacek Bak, 3-Rigobert Song, 4-Adama Coulybaly, 17-Yoann Lachor; 5-Jocelyn Blanchard, 7-Antoine Sibierski, 10-Daniel Moreira; 19-Pape Bouba Diop, 21-John Utaka Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece) Group H LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW v GALATASARAY Lokomotiv will be without injured Russia midfielder Marat Izmailov and Nigerian striker James Obiorah. Coach Yuri Syomin said Galatasaray are favourites to win the group "because there are seven footballers in this team who were first choice in the Turkish World Cup campaign." Goalkeeper Sergei Ovchinnikov said Lokomotiv had to win every home game to be sure of qualifying. "It's great that our first match is at home to Galatasaray, because it's very hard to play against them in Istanbul. We must beat the Turks no matter what." Lokomotiv: 1-Sergei Ovchinnikov; 16-Vadim Yevseyev, 2-Gennady Nizhegorodov, 5-Sergei Ignashevich, 14-Oleg Pashinin, 4-Jacob Lekgetho, 3-Yuri Drozdov, 8-Vladimir Maminov, 10-Dmitry Loskov, 15-Maxim Buznikin, 25-Ruslan Pimenov Galatasaray midfielder Berkant Goktan is the Istanbul side's only injured player now that left-sided midfielder Ergun Penbe has recovered from an ankle injury. Striker Arif Erdem is in sparkling form, having scored seven goals in five league games, and looks sure to start against Lokomotiv. Hasan Sas, so far apparently short of the form he struck at the World Cup, could support him. Galatasaray: 1-Faryd Mondragon; 3-Bulent Korkmaz, 5-Emre Asik, 57-Hakan Unsal, 22-Umit Davala; 4-Joao Batista, 67-Ergun Penbe, 18-Ayhan Akman, 10-Felipe, 11-Hasan Sas; 6-Arif Erdem Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland) BARCELONA v CLUB BRUGES Barcelona's Luis Enrique grabbed his third goal of the season in the 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames and is certain to join Javier Saviola and Patrick Kluivert in attack, leaving no place for new signing Juan Roman Riquelme. Coach Louis van Gaal looks set to keep faith with young Victor Valdes in goal, while 20-year-old Fernando Navarro should also keep his place in the three-man defense. Swedish international defender Patrik Andersson and Dutch international winger Marc Overmars are still in the final stages of recovery from long-term injuries, while second-string striker Dani is out with a muscle strain. Barcelona: 26-Victor Valdes; 5-Carles Puyol, 3-Frank de Boer, 35-Fernando Navarro; 17-Gaizka Mendieta, 6-Xavi, 8-Philip Cocu, 31-Thiago Motta; 7-Javier Saviola, 21-Luis Enrique, 9-Patrick Kluivert Club Bruges defenders Tjorven De Brul and Birger Van De Ven and midfielders Sebastian Hermans and Aminu Sani are all out through injury. Bruges, who lead the Belgian first division, have lost only one of their last 10 away matches and coach Trond Sollied said: "If we play the best we can and they're not on top form, then the difference in quality is not so great." Bruges: 1-Dany Verlinden; 2-Olivier De Cock, 26-Birger Maertens, 5-Peter Van Der Heyden, 3-Timmy Simons; 8-Gaetan Englebert, 7-Gert Verheyen, 19-Rune Lange, 18-Andres Mendoza; 6-Philippe Clement, 14-Nastja Ceh Referee: Helmut Fleischer (Germany)
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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