Petre's magical moment

By Ben Lyttleton

FC Dinamo Bucuresti captain Florentin Petre has urged his team-mates to make the most of their chance of a lifetime to beat Manchester United FC tonight.

Battling display
Although reeling from a weekend league defeat by city rivals FC Steaua Bucuresti, Petre is calling on his side to regain some pride with a battling performance against Sir Alex Ferguson's men in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg.

Electric atmosphere
"We have an opportunity that comes round once in a lifetime and we must take it and try and score at Old Trafford," Petre told uefa.com ahead of the return in Manchester. "We have to give a good account of ourselves because we know the atmosphere will be incredible. We are not going there to concede a load of goals but we will not play with ten men behind the ball."

International win
Petre played and scored for Romania in their first 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying match last week, a 2-1 victory against Finland. He is hoping his good form continues. "We have nothing to lose here, only to win," he said. "But we want to win the respect of the United fans too."

Electric atmosphere
United came from behind in Romania to win a fortnight ago, despite Dinamo taking the lead after just nine minutes, when Claudiu Niculescu's cross was diverted towards the goal by Ionel Danciulescu. Ryan Giggs equalised before the break and United took the lead when Liam Miller's low cross was diverted past his own goalkeeper by Angelo Alistar.

Boyhood dream
Danciulescu, a constant menace to the United defence, believes his side have the European pedigree to cause an upset.
It was the Romanian international's winner against Slovakian champions MŠK Zilina that clinched success in the last round. "I scored in both games against Zilina," he said. "I was also responsible for forcing [Quinton] Fortune steering the ball into his own net, so I am dreaming of scoring at least one goal at Old Trafford."

No fear
He also insisted that the tie was still alive. "We must go to Manchester without fear, and just focus on playing our own game to try everything to get the result. Of course, they are now big favourites, after they won with so much luck in Bucharest, but you never know what could happen in football."

Disappointing displays
Dinamo coach Ioan Andone could not share Danciulescu's confidence. Andone, a former international who was part of Romania's 1990 FIFA World Cup final squad, guided Dinamo to their 17th league title last season. But he has been disappointed with his team's form so far this season.

Poor form
"Our problem is that we are a long way off the great displays we showed last term," he said. "We haven't played any game completely well yet." Thus, Andone is approaching the second leg with half an eye on a place in the UEFA Cup. "If we were honest, we would be thinking more about our future opponents in the UEFA Cup," he said.

Poor spell
"But this is the biggest opportunity to get over our bad spell by playing well against a great team in a great stadium. It will be very tough, but our duty is to fight for every minute of the game. We will do our best."