Schalke suffering home jinx

Wisla Kraków will face a tough test at FC Schalke 04 in tonight's only UEFA Cup third-round game.

Wisla worries
Since the 1-1 draw in the first leg in Poland a fortnight ago, Wisla have qualified for the Polish Cup semi-finals after demolishing second division Ceramika Opoczno 7-2 on aggregate. But they have not played a competitive game since 1 December and coach Henryk Kasperczak has had slight injury worries over midfield players Miroslaw Szymkowiak and Kamil Kosowski, although both should play against Schalke.

'They need to attack'
He said: "We should play much better than in the first leg. We will enjoy playing in front of a 52,000 crowd, which is the usual for Schalke. They need to attack which we can use." In substitute goalkeeper Adam Piekutowski, Kasperczak believes he has a potential hero. During training on Sunday, he saved almost all the penalties he faced and has shown himself to superior in this discipline than first-choice Frenchman Angelo Hugues. Kasperczak added: "If we need the shoot-out, I'd seriously think about putting in Piekutowski in the last minute of extra time."

Barren spell
The bad news for Schalke is that they have failed to win in five games at the Parkstadion since 5 October. On Saturday they shared the spoils with SV Werder Bremen after a 1-1 draw in the huge arena.

Agali out
They also have a host of injuries going into the tie. Gustav Varela, Thomasz Hajto and Nils Oude Kamphuis are all suffering from long-term problems, while top scorer Victor Agali, Jörg Böhme and Nico van Kerckhoven are struggling with niggling injuries.

'No mental problems'
"We should have put the tie beyond doubt in Poland," said Schalke coach Frank Neubarth. "We had them right where we wanted them but now we have to start over again. We have to dismiss the talk that we have a mental problem playing at home and just focus on the task ahead of us. The Poles will arrive here with everything to win but we just have to follow our own attacking gameplan and not just rely on keeping the game goalless."

Positive Sand
Danish international Ebbe Sand, who scored the only goal against Bremen on Saturday, said: "It's true that most members of the squad are tired but if we can reach the next round of the competition we can look back and say that we have had a good autumn in spite of the many injuries."