Preview: Tuesday's Champions League play-offs
Monday, August 17, 2015
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Manchester United play Club Brugge, Lazio face Leverkusen, Sporting CP meet CSKA Moskva, BATE take on Partizan and Astana host APOEL in Tuesday's play-off first legs.
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Manchester United v Club Brugge
• United boast Belgian talent in the shape of Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini, both born in Brussels (the Etterbeek area in Fellaini's case). Fellaini played under Club Brugge coach Michel Preud'homme at Standard Liège from 2006–08, winning the Belgian title in 2007/08.
• Club Brugge are yet to win in 11 games in England (D2 L9). They are also winless in six matches (home and away) against English teams since a 1-0 first-leg success over Chelsea in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' quarter-finals (they succumbed 2-0 in the return).
Louis van Gaal, Manchester United manager
There's a lot of pressure because our aim and goal is to reach the Champions League. That is what Arsène Wenger said last year – that ties such as this are difficult. Brugge, under Michel Preud'homme, defend very well. They can also attack, so it will be a difficult match. That is why the pressure is high.
Michel Preud'homme, Club Brugge coach
Of course they have a better chance than us, but in England in particular you often see the smaller team beat the bigger team. You see that in their cup all the time. We have to take our chance, we have to try and play the same and see where it takes us. In England, I'm sure the pressure is on Manchester United because they have to beat Club Brugge. We know what that is like because the Belgian journalists always say we have to win.
Lazio v Bayer Leverkusen
• Lazio are in the UEFA Champions League play-offs for the first time but are without goalkeeper Federico Marchetti due to a rib injury.
• Leverkusen's record in games in Italy reads W1 D3 L3. They have drawn 1-1 twice in Rome, against Roma (in 2004) as well as against Lazio in the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League first group stage.
Stefano Pioli, Lazio coach
Federico Marchetti and Filip Djordjević are not available for the game. Lucas Biglia is, however – he is our captain, we are proud of this, and tomorrow he will definitely play. In attack we have Miroslav Klose as the central striker, but Keita and Ricardo Kishna can help us too.
Roger Schmidt, Leverkusen coach
Unlike Lazio, we have already played some [competitive] matches, but that doesn't mean our condition is better than theirs. Lazio have some good players and I consider them to be a useful team. We are not favourites just because we have played in the UEFA Champions League in recent seasons. This is not an advantage.
Sporting CP v CSKA Moskva
• In the sides' sole previous encounter, Valeri Gazaev's CSKA beat José Peseiro's Sporting 3-1 in the 2005 UEFA Cup final, held at Sporting's Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon.
• This is CSKA's first UEFA Champions League play-off. They are unbeaten in nine UEFA Champions League qualifying matches (W5 D4).
Jorge Jesus, Sporting coach
We are playing a team who are leading the Russian league, which is already five weeks old, so they will have an intensity and competitive instinct [we don't]. CSKA are quality opponents but our team are improving and starting to understand more and more what we want from them. I think both sides have the same chance of qualifying.
Leonid Slutski, CSKA coach
Tests have shown that [Seydou Doumbia] is fit, but he's only played one pre-season game so it's hard to be sure how long he can play for. We have watched Sporting's last four matches and we have a clear idea of their level and how ready they are. They are a quick and dynamic team who attack well down the flanks and through the centre. The fact that we have played more games this season is not relevant.
BATE Borisov v Partizan
• BATE have won all three of their UEFA Champions League play-off ties to date.
• The first leg is Partizan's 100th match in the UEFA Champions League and European Champion Clubs' Cup; the previous 99 ended W39 D22 L38. It will be BATE's 75th game in Europe's top club competition.
Aleksandr Ermakovich, BATE coach
We have some Balkan players [Serbians Filip Mladenović and Nemanja Milunović and Montenegrin Nemanja Nikolić] who have told us in great detail what Partizan's game is like. In spite of some recent disappointing results in the Belarusian league [BATE have not scored in picking up one point from their last two fixtures] we need to concentrate on our game and show our best qualities.
Zoran Milinković, Partizan coach
BATE have been in the Champions League group stage four times since 2008, so they are used to big competitions. They have a quality team, so we're aware that we need two good performances. I asked Vuk Rašović, the head coach of Dinamo Minsk, for some help during my preparations – as you know, he used to work at Partizan.
Astana v APOEL
• No Kazakh club has ever won a UEFA play-off tie; Shakhter moved into the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2013/14 after losing a UEFA Champions League play-off against Celtic, while Astana crashed 7-0 on aggregate to Villarreal after progressing to last year's UEFA Europa League play-offs.
• APOEL are missing Vander, Sathis Aloneftis and Urko Pardo through injury.
Stanimir Stoilov, Astana coach
We want the Champions League flag to fly high at the Astana Arena for a long time. This is a hugely important game for Kazakhstan. There are nerves within the team, but it certainly won't be the end of the world if we are eliminated. Patrick [Twumasi]'s absence will be felt. We will try and change the team and our game plan, but we need to be cautious for the 90 minutes.
Domingos Paciência, APOEL coach
It is not normal for us to play on an artificial surface, it has different characteristics, but we have to be well-prepared and adapt fast. We know that Astana are a really good team with quality in their play. They scored seven goals across the ties against Maribor and HJK, so we have to focus and get a good result here.