Montpellier braced for Brøndby

Potsdam held
The Danish side travel to the Joseph Blanc stadium for the first leg on Saturday before staging the return on Sunday week. Montpellier's recruitment of several French internationals has paid off so far, as on home soil in the last round they defeated Dutch club Saestum and Austria's SV Neulengbach before holding Women's Cup holders Potsdam 0-0, the first time the German team have failed to score in the competition and in stark contrast to their 6-0 victory against Montpellier a year before.

Lair's regret
Coach Patrice Lair, who took charge this summer after leaving men's side Stade de Reims Champagne, said: "Unfortunately, it was our last game. If we had been fresh, we could have won this fixture."

Arsenal defeated
However, Brøndby are no strangers to this competition, having reached the 2003/04 semi-finals and narrowly missed a last-eight place last season. They also topped a second qualifying round group containing Arsenal LFC with three victories.

'Physical challenge'
Lair added: "I have picked up a couple of bits of information on Brøndby. Due to costs, we did not film them in Denmark as they did for our last game. But I know their main players. I expect a tough physical challenge as ever with Scandinavian teams."

In form
Montpellier are at full strength and feel confident after defeating ASJ Soyaux 4-0 in the French league last weekend. Indeed, they have won both their Feminine Division 1 matches so far, scoring eleven goals without reply.

Aim achieved
Emulating Toulouse FC, who made the Women's Cup semi-finals three years ago before losing to Arsenal will be tough, though. "The aim at the beginning of the season was to reach the quarter-finals," Lair said. "We've done it now, and it's a bonus for us. But I know we cannot go much higher. It's a physical problem."

International trio
As usual, Lair's team will be based around his French internationals - Hodda Lattaf up front, Sonia Bompastor in the middle with Camille Abily in defence, all hoping to bounce back from a recent shock FIFA Women's World Cup defeat by the Netherlands.

Brøndby fresh
They meet a visiting side well rested having not played a domestic game since 21 September. Brøndby trail arch-rivals Fortuna Hjørring by a point at home, but at the moment all the focus in on Montpellier.

Frankfurt avoided
"It was very important for us that we won our group in the group stage," coach Kenneth Hainer Møller said. "This meant we avoided [1. FFC] Frankfurt from Germany and got Montpellier instead - and furthermore it is an advantage for us to play away in the first leg."