Liedson's final assessment

By Julio Gomes Filho & Brian Brownstein

Sporting Clube de Portugal striker Liedson does not believe that his side would have reached tonight's UEFA Cup final were it not for the fact that the game was to be held at their own Estádio José Alvalade.

Undeniable fact
"We were inspired to qualify for the final because we knew it would be in our own stadium in front of our home crowd," Liedson told uefa.com. "It motivated us since the beginning - it is undeniable. Maybe we wouldn't be here if the final was set to be played elsewhere."

Home comforts
The Brazilian forward believes home advantage could make the crucial difference against PFC CSKA Moskva tonight, adding: "The game will be played inside the four lines and it is one team against the other. But, obviously, it is an advantage for us that we are at home. We hope our supporters will help us to run that bit more and this could be decisive."

Brazilian contingent
Liedson has scored an impressive nine goals in this season's competiton, but believes it is going to be difficult to add to that tally against Russian opponents who have only conceded four goals in eight UEFA Cup games. He said: "CSKA are a balanced side. Their main strength is the defence as they concede few goals. However, their strikers from Brazil, Vágner Love and Daniel Carvalho, are fast and dangerous and we must be careful."

Lucky break
Sporting's path to the final has by no means been smooth. After overcoming Newcastle United FC in the quarter-finals, despite at one stage needing to score three goals to win, they had to wait for a goal from Miguel Garcia two minutes into added time at the end of extra time to see off AZ Alkmaar in their semi-final second leg. Liedson knows his team rode their luck in the Netherlands.

Worthy adversaries
"I expected a difficult tie against Alkmaar and that's what we got," he said. "Alkmaar played very good games against us and both teams deserved to be in the final really. We studied them and knew it wouldn't be easy, and it wasn't by chance they were at that stage. We were lucky in the end.

Nervous moments
"I was pretty scared when they scored during extra time and I thought it was going to be all over for us," he added. "It was extra time, we were away from home against a very good side on a small pitch - one they found it easy to defend on. In the end, we were just luckier than them. It is that simple."

Brazilian hope
Liedson hopes Sporting can carry that luck into the final. As Portugal's top scorer this season, having scored a remarkable 25 goals in only 30 SuperLiga appearances, he is also hoping he can do enough in the final to catch the eye of Brazil's national team coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira.

Important spectator
He said: "I have not been picked for Brazil yet, but I guess the coach likes my game because he was the one who asked [SC] Corinthians to sign me. When I arrived, he left and unfortunately we didn't have the chance to work together. There are a lot of great strikers in Brazil and the competition is hard. Currently, he's been calling up Luisão, Diego and Luis Fabiano. And if he has eyes for [SL] Benfica and [FC] Porto players, he is certainly watching Sporting games as well. Maybe I will have a chance."