AEK accept Roman challenge

By Tom Kington

AEK Athens FC must end a string of five UEFA Champions League draws with an away win against AS Roma on Tuesday if they are to wrest a place in the second group stage from the clutches of the Italian side.

Last chance
"This is the last chance for both teams," admitted AEK coach Dusan Bajevic, who saw his team draw again at the weekend, 1-1 at Olympiakos Piraeus FC. "It will be difficult for both, although Roma have home advantage and are better than when we played them seven weeks ago." AEK defender Nikolaos Kostenoglou certainly believes the Greek league leaders are good enough to win, however. "Belief is the key that can drive all the players on to victory," he said.

Sixth draw?
A sixth draw in their final Group C fixture will end the Greek club's run in Europe's premier club competition and leave Bajevic wondering how his team could score five times in two games against Real Madrid CF, the defending champions, and still end up behind Roma, who have managed a measly two goals ahead of their Matchday Six showdown.

Victory in Madrid
The Roma coach Fabio Capello can consider himself lucky that his side's two strikes to date were both match-winning efforts, with the second coming in the Santiago Bernabéu to ensure victory against Madrid two weeks ago. Capello wants his charges to follow that winning example, despite requiring only a draw to qualify from the section along with the Spanish club.

'Play without fear'
"Playing for a draw is not in my mentality, we'll play to win and play without fear," said Capello. However, the Giallorossi coach - who identified midfield player Vassilios Tsartas as the principal threat - added that he was not taking AEK for granted and would seek to stifle "a high-quality, fast counterattack."

Candela and Batistuta out
The presence of Roma captain Francesco Totti, who twisted his right knee in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Piacenza FC, will be in doubt until Tuesday, said Capello, while Gabriel Batistuta is out injured along with French international Vincent Candela, who sparkled against Madrid with his forays down the left flank.

Leading scorer
Totti has been keeping Roma's goals for column ticking over - with eight strikes he is the leading scorer in Serie A - as fellow strikers Vincenzo Montella and Marco Delvecchio continue to struggle in front of goal. Since the win in Madrid, Roma's profligacy has seen them slip seven points behind the leaders, Internazionale FC, after dropping points against AC Perugia, Como Calcio and Piacenza.

Cassano goal
"We have missed chances to finish off games and we have been punished," said Capello. "I hope that doesn't happen on Tuesday." Salvation could arise in the form of Antonio Cassano, the 20-year-old striker who returned with a vengeance to score against Piacenza after being fined and confined to the bench as punishment for missing training the week before.