Tørum not taking Tampere lightly

Coach Knut Tørum believes Rosenborg BK have "had a bit of luck in the draw" but warned it "would be foolish" to think they are already in the UEFA Champions League group stage with a tie against giantkillers Tampere United to come.

Early goals
The Norwegian club have appeared in ten of the last 12 group stages, and will be strongly fancied to extend that fine record after brushing aside FC Astana 7-1 last night, and 10-2 on aggregate, to earn a date with the Finnish champions. The result was never really in doubt following the 3-1 win in Kazakhstan, but two early goals last night forced Astana on to the offensive in Trondheim and they paid the price with a heavy defeat.

'Risk everything'
"We had a two-goal lead inside six minutes which meant they had to risk everything going forward," Tørum said. "That made the job much easier for us. The result was much better than we expected after the first leg." The coach also singled out hat-trick hero Abdoulrazack Traoré and two-goal Yssouf Koné for praise: "They are both very skilful and showed all their tricks tonight. I'm very happy with them."

Tampere shock
Up next are Tampere, who produced arguably the performance of the second qualifying round in beating PFC Levski Sofia home and away to reach this stage for the first time. "We would be foolish to think that we're already [in the group stage]," Tørum said as he looked ahead to next week's first leg in Finland. "We've had a bit of luck with the draw, and now have to make the most of our chance."