Liverpool and Manchester City are counting on the comforts of home to secure their passage into the Europa League last 16 today.
Liverpool host Sparta Prague at Anfield with Danish international Daniel Agger predicting a more attacking display after his side’s drab 0-0 draw in Prague last week.
City’s tie with Aris Salonika is identically poised ahead of the Greek outfit’s visit to Eastlands, with Roberto Mancini’s men approaching the game in high spirits after their 5-0 FA Cup drubbing of Notts County.
Elsewhere, Serie A highflyers Napoli travel to Villarreal after another goalless stalemate in the first leg, while former European kings Ajax are in the driving seat for their trip to Anderlecht after winning last week’s first bout 3-0.
Agger believes home advantage can see Liverpool through to a last 16 match-up with either Portugal’s Braga or Lech Poznan, of Poland.
“We will approach Thursday like we do every home game,” he said.
“Try to get forward and keep the ball, playing attacking football, and at Anfield if we play well, it will be difficult for every team.
“So we’ve got a good chance, but it’s not easy, it’s never easy in the knockout stages.”
Agger is well aware of the power of Anfield having scored in Liverpool’s semi-final at the stadium against Chelsea to help the Reds on their way to a penalty shoot-out win and a date with Milan in the 2007 Champions League final.
“It was so important, we lost 1-0 away, but we knew we had a good chance back at Anfield,” Agger recalled. “The fans and the crowd in the home tie was unbelievable.”
The Danish defender believes the arrival of Kenny Dalglish has been the making of a team that has conceded just once in their last six outings under the Liverpool legend.
“Kenny came in with new ideas, and they made us really happy about playing football. That has been the main reason why we’ve improved defensively because we’re keeping the ball going forward.”
Napoli’s former Liverpool defender Andrea Dossena in contrast believes Villarreal could come unstuck by playing at home.
“Villarreal will have to leave themselves a little more exposed compared to in Naples,” he said.
“We know our strengths, so we will try to use them by scoring, and the fact that away goals count double could work in our favour. It’s a great advantage for us that we didn’t concede at home.”
Villarreal’s Joan Capdevila warned Napoli to expect a tough night.
“We weren’t really happy with the result in Naples because 0-0 away from home is not ideal in Europe,” he said.
“If they score in the return, we could get knocked out, so we’d much rather have come away from the first leg with an away goal. The second leg will be very different at El Madrigal, though.
“You’ll see a much more attacking Villarreal and I think it’ll be a very open game.”
In Glasgow, last year’s finalists Rangers greet Sporting Lisbon with the disadvantage of having conceded a late away goal in last week’s 1-1 draw.
Meanwhile, Eindhoven mayor Rob Gijzel has taken “emergency” measures for the visit of French side Lille at PSV after violent clashes between fans and police last week in France before the 2-2 draw.
Today’s second legs
Zenit SP vs Young Boys (first leg: 1-2) - 17.00
Bayer Leverkusen vs Metalist (4-0) - 19.00
Sporting vs Rangers (1-1) - 19.00
Liverpool vs Sparta Prague (0-0) - 19.00
PSV Eindhoven vs Lille (2-2) - 19.00
Spartak Moscow vs Basel (3-2) - 19.00
Man. City vs Aris Salonika (0-0) - 21.05
Ajax vs Anderlecht (3-0) - 21.05
Braga vs Lech Poznan (0-1) - 21.05
Dynamo Kiev vs Besiktas (4-1) - 21.05
Twente vs Rubin Kazan(2-0) - 21.05
Stuttgart vs Benfica (1-2) - 21.05
Paris SG vs BATE (2-2) - 21.05
Villarreal vs Napoli (0-0) - 21.05
Played yesterday
Porto vs Sevilla - 0-1
(Aggregate 2-2, Porto through on away goals rule)
Played Tuesday
CSKA Moscow vs PAOK - 1-1
(CSKA win 2-1 on aggregate)