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Neville on course for return

Manchester United FC's Gary Neville could extend his appearances record on Matchday Two.

Appearance record
Indications are the England right-back will make a record 69th Champions League appearance at the BayArena. Neville made his comeback from injury as a substitute in United's 1-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur FC at the weekend. If not a watershed, it was certainly a restorative result for United following their worst league start in ten years.

On the receiving end
The victory might even have brought smiles to Maccabi Haifa faces. They may have been on the receiving end at Old Trafford last week, but the Israeli champions, who face Olympiakos Piraeus FC in Cyprus, are happy to praise the Group F favourites: "In Israel, United are like the national team - you cannot go into the street without someone wanting to chant about them," said midfield player Nenad Pralija.

No breaks
Neville has not featured in the Champions League since the semi-final against Leverkusen last term, which the German side won on away goals. The defender broke a bone in his foot in the first leg of that tie. Any breaks since then have not gone the way of Leverkusen, who have won just one league game this season. Right now they seem to have a headache that not even the men from Bayer, home to Aspirin, could cure.

Bayern must do better
Fourteen places separate Leverkusen from the 1. Bundesliga leaders, FC Bayern München. Ottmar Hitzfeld's side have won five out of six domestic matches, drawing the other, but slipped up against RC Deportivo La Coruña in last week's Group G opener. The team they must do better against are RC Lens, themselves edged out 2-1 at Milan AC.

Valerón blow
In the section's other tie, Deportivo must shrug off the loss of playmaker Juan Valerón to injury and build on their opening-night success at Bayern. Milan are the visitors to the Riazor, where they claimed a 1-1 draw in the second-group stage of the 2000/01 competition.

Sitting pretty
The other Italian side in action, Juventus FC, are sitting pretty at the moment with two Serie A wins behind them. Last week they were denied maximum points in the Group E match at Feyenoord only by a Pierre van Hooijdonk free-kick. And the aim for Marcello Lippi's men against FC Dynamo Kyiv will be a repeat of their quarter-final success against the Ukrainians, who have never beaten Italian opponents, in the 1997/98 season.

Form book favours Newcastle
The form book makes better reading for Newcastle United FC ahead of their game with Feyenoord. The English club beat the Dutch 4-0 on their previous visit, during their Inter-Cities Fairs Cup-winning campaign of 1968/69. Masterminding their challenge will be 69-year-old manager Sir Bobby Robson, twice an Eredivisie champion with Feyenoord's rivals PSV Eindhoven.

Score to settle
If Feyenoord have a score to settle, so too do Galatasaray SK against another of Robson's former clubs, FC Barcelona, in Group H. The Catalan club ended Galatasaray's run last time around by beating them at the Ali Sami Yen stadium in their final second group stage match to reach the last eight. Barça and the Turkish champions are vying for top spot after wins against Club Brugge KV and FC Lokomotiv Moskva last week. The Belgian and Russian teams go in search of their first points in Bruges.