UEFA will decide tomorrow whether to allow Champions League winners Liverpool to defend their title next season, the game's ruling body in Europe said yesterday.

UEFA's executive committee will use a teleconference to decide whether to take the unprecedented step of allowing England a fifth team in next season's competition.

Liverpool won the trophy on penalties against Milan last month but finished outside the Premier League's top four qualifying places. They are currently only entitled to a UEFA Cup place.

The teleconference will be chaired by UEFA president Lennart Johansson, who made it clear on Tuesday that he wanted Liverpool to be allowed into the qualifying rounds of next season's Champions League.

A UEFA statement yesterday said the participation of all future cup holders, as well as Liverpool, would be considered by the committee.

¤ Liverpool's Harry Kewell began his libel action against Gary Lineker yesterday, following comments about the Australia midfielder's move to Liverpool in 2003. Both men were in court for a case in which a jury must decide whether a newspaper article written by Lineker after Kewell's switch from Leeds was libellous. The article said Kewell and his agent Bernie Mandic had "cleverly circumvented" rules on transfer negotiations, criticising the Australian for a deal that earned Mandic a fee of two million pounds.

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