Juan's winning feeling

By Fernando Duarte

Supreme confidence
The Bundesliga team lost 3-1 at Anfield a fortnight ago - but Juan is supremely confident of victory. The Brazilian centre-back said Leverkusen's victory against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final in 2001/02 leaves the outcome of this tie in no doubt, a win for the German side.

Haunting experience
"I'm so confident of making the quarter-finals because Liverpool will be under huge pressure to go through, not just because of their lead but because of the way Leverkusen knocked them out three years ago," he told uefa.com. "I believe that will be like a ghost for Liverpool this week. Liverpool were favourites to go through and didn't."

Epic comeback
Leverkusen overturned a 1-0 deficit after the first leg in 2002 to win 4-3 on aggregate, and Juan sees no reason why the same cannot happen again. Team-mate França's added-time away goal is a major source of the 26-year-old's confidence.

'Crucial goal'
"We have the crucial away goal to take from the first leg. Without it things could be much, much worse now," he said. "For Leverkusen to go through, we will have to score the first goal quite early on and then put pressure on Liverpool for the rest of the game. It's definitely not going to be easy but we all talked in the dressing room after the match at Anfield and agreed that nothing is lost yet."

Ankle injury
Juan will miss the tie after he tore an ankle ligament in the 1-1 draw against VfB Stuttgart on 27 February. He will, however, be watching from the sidelines in the imposing BayArena. The defender cites Leverkusen's impressive home record as another cause for optimism ahead of the second leg.

Home fortress
He said: "It must not be forgotten that Leverkusen won all of our matches at home in the group stage with at least a two-goal difference. There is no doubt we are strong at home, and the Leverkusen players feel at home in the BayArena - so maybe we should start thinking about being a bit more daring in our away matches."

Key player
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will return for the second leg after missing the first game between the two sides through suspension. The English international is a key player for the Merseysiders, yet Juan claims the midfielder will not have a chance to influence the outcome of the game.

Title fight
"Gerrard will be back for this match, and I respect him as an international footballer, but big names don't win games. We trounced Real Madrid [CF] 3-0 and their squad is unbelievably full of star players," he said. "We have too much experience to panic against big players and we will always fight for the big titles."