Brøndby expect to reach last four

Despite failing to score the goals in Italy which would have made Wednesday's second leg "a formality", Brøndby IF are confident that they will complete the job against ASD CF Bardolino Verona and reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Cup for the second year in succession.

'A little annoyed'
Bardolino initially made the running in front of a 5,000 crowd on home soil last week but saw their good work undone by Tanja Christensen, following a goalkeeping error by the otherwise impressive Carla Brunozzi, in the 65th minute. With an away goal in the bag, the Danish club are in no mood to relinquish the advantage at the Brøndby Stadion. Coach Henrik Jensen said: "Obviously we should be content with a one-goal away win and a clean sheet but I'm a little annoyed that we didn't make the most of our second-half chances. That would have turned the second leg into a formality."

Wasted chances
Looking back to the first leg a week ago, he added: "We probably had ten or 12 significant opportunities, half of which were clear ones. So if we are to fail to win on aggregate, Bardolino will have to play considerably better than they did at home, or we will have to dramatically underperform."

Duo return
Brøndby may have to be wary of complacency, and the fresh legs of the Italian visitors after Bardolino had their weekend Serie A fixture postponed to give them more time to prepare for the second leg in Denmark. The consequence of that is the availability after injury of Maria Sorvillo and Silvia Toselli, although Raffaella Manieri remains sidelined with a knee injury.

'Play better away'
"Their coach said he was disappointed with our performance in the first leg and that they could have scored four or five goals," said Bardolino chief Renato Longega. "I'm pleased to hear that because if they think they've already qualified that will give us a better chance of progressing. We've always played better away than at home. I think it's because we have players who counterattack quickly. I'm confident we still have a good chance to go through - qualification is still in the balance and I'm sure we will play better than we did in Verona."