Antonio Alvarez, the Sevilla coach, insists his team have already forgotten about their 4-0 hammering by Barcelona at the weekend as they look to book their place in the Champions League group stage. The Spaniards will look to overturn a 1-0 deficit when they host Braga, the Portuguese side, in the second leg of their play-off tonight, three days after their Supercopa thumping at Camp Nou.
"We have the biggest game of the season tomorrow," Alvarez told Sevilla's official website. "We are ready and everything has been forgotten from Saturday. We are just thinking about [the Braga game]." Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano, the Sevilla strikers, both suffered minor knocks against Barca but are set to be fit to face Braga. Werder Bremen take a 3-1 lead into the second leg of their tie against Sampdoria in Genoa, but conceding a late away goal last week and suffering injuries to important players have made their task much harder than it might have been.
Giampaolo Pazzini's header has given the Italian side hope of overturning the deficit, while Bremen were dealt a further blow with the news they have lost both Hugo Almeida and Aaron Hunt to injuries. "We have lost two very strong players who have a certain degree of experience with our system and in European competitions," said Thomas Schaaf, the coach, whose side were beaten 4-1 by Hoffenheim in their first game of the Bundesliga season at the weekend, before departing for Genoa today.
"We have got to react to this. It hurts. We will have to see how we deal with it." Also tonight, FC Sheriff, the Moldovan side, welcome Basle, who are 1-0 up from the first leg, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv, leading 3-2 from the away leg, will look to finish the job at home to Salzburg. Anderlecht take on Partizan Belgrade in Brussels, the Belgians with two away goals from the 2-2 draw in Serbia last week.
* Press Association
