Lille draw inspiration from Real conquerors Lyon
Reuters - Wednesday 17 March 2010, 02:00
BERNE - Lille will draw inspiration from
fellow French side Olympique Lyon's European exploits when they
attempt to end Liverpool's last chance of silverware in the
Europa League last-16 second-leg on Thursday.
More accustomed to challenging for Premier and Champions
League honours, five-times European winners Liverpool have this
season been forced to set their sights on the less glamorous
Europa League after an unhappy campaign.
Juventus, also forced to aim lower after a troubled last few
months, defend a 3-1 lead at Fulham while Anderlecht's
16-year-old Romelo Lukaku could be the biggest threat to German
side Hamburg SV, who take a 3-1 lead to Belgium.
NEWS: Liverpool and Fulham have home-work to do
Buoyed by Lyon, who successfully defended a 1-0 advantage at
the Bernabeu to knock Real Madrid out of the Champions League
last week, Lille take the same scoreline to Anfield hoping for a
similar upset.
"We've taken the lead but we know that we'll have to give
everything in an even tougher game," said 19-year-old Eden
Hazard, whose fortuitous free kick sealed a first-leg win.
"Hopefully, we can produce the same sort of game Lyon
delivered at Real. As for my goal, I'm not supposed to take the
free kicks but I was asked to. I wanted to put it in the box. No
one touched it. Good for us. We hope we can keep this
advantage," he told UEFA.com.
FIGHTING RELEGATION
Premier League underdogs Fulham, fighting relegation only
two years ago, host twice European champions Juventus still
hopeful they can pull off an upset.
It would not be their first of the campaign having already
eliminated titleholders Shakhtar Donetsk in the previous round.
"Coming to places like Craven Cottage is intimidating for
teams like Juve," Fulham defender Chris Baird told the club
website.
"We're looking forward to the game. We know the threat
they're going to pose to us but it's another great game to play
in and hopefully we'll get the right result for Fulham."
Anderlecht will look to impressive league topscorer Lukaku
to help overturn Hamburg's lead. Already a full international,
he has caught the attention of a number of big clubs but intends
to stay with the Belgian side until he is 20-years-old.
Three of the ties are drawn at 1-1 after the first leg -
Olympique Marseille and Benfica, Werder Bremen and Valencia and
German champions VfL Wolfsburg and Rubin Kazan - while Sporting
host Atletico Madrid after a goalless first leg.
Belgian side Standard Liege have a healthy 3-1 lead as they
host Greek league leaders Panathinaikos.
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