Champions League matches in Group C
Team news and probable line-ups for Tuesday's Group C matches in the second phase of the Champions League:
Team news and probable line-ups for Tuesday's Group C matches in the second phase of the Champions League:
AC MILAN vs. BORUSSIA DORTMUND
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti is expected to rest strikers Filippo Inzaghi and Rivaldo. The Italians, who have already qualified for the knockout stages, should start with Andriy Shevchenko up front, just ahead of Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa.
Fernando Redondo takes the place of regular central midfielder Andrea Pirlo, with Samuele Dalla Bona and Cristian Brocchi on the wings. Christian Abbiati replaces first team goalkeeper Dida between the posts.
To make the quarter-finals, Borussia Dortmund have to beat AC Milan and hope Real Madrid do not win away to Lokomotiv Moscow.
The German champions, who beat Hanover 96 2-0 on Saturday to stay second in the Bundesliga, 13 points behind leaders Bayern Munich, are without Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky (thigh).
If Dortmund were to go out, Germany would be without a team in the quarter-finals of European club competition for the first time in 19 years.
Probable teams:
Dortmund: 1-Jens Lehmann, 21-Christoph Metzelder, 4-Christian Woerns, 2-Evanilson, 7-Stefan Reuter, 8-Torsten Frings, 5-Sebastian Kehl, 17-Dede, 12-Ewerthon, 9-Jan Koller, 22-Marcio Amoroso.
AC Milan: 18-Christian Abbiati, 14-Dario Simic, 13-Alessandro Nesta, 19-Alessandro Costacurta, 3-Paolo Maldini, 28-Samuele Dalla Bona, 20-Clarence Seedorf, 5-Fernando Redondo, 32-Cristian Brocchi, 10-Rui Costa, 7-Andriy Shevchenko.
Referee: Graham Barber (England).
LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW vs. REAL MADRID
Lokomotiv, who earned a scrappy 2-1 win at Uralan Elista in Saturday's Russian premier league opener, have nothing but pride to play for against Real Madrid.
But they held Real to a 2-2 draw in Madrid in December and coach Yuri Syomin has promised not to go out quietly.
"The team's pride is at stake here," he said Syomin. "Besides, the more points we get, the better Russia's UEFA ratings will be in future, so we also must play for the national honour as well."
The Russian champions welcome back their captain and top scorer in European competition Dmitry Loskov, who was sorely missed in last week's crushing 3-0 defeat by Borussia Dortmund. Defender Gennady Nizhegorodov, who was also suspended for the Dortmund game, should return too.
Real will have to find a replacement for their inspirational full back Roberto Carlos, who is suspended for a match the reigning European champions must win to be certain of qualifying for the last eight.
Argentine winger Santiago Solari injured an ankle in Real's final training session before flying out to Moscow but the club insist he will be fit for Tuesday and he could be asked to step back and cover for the Brazilian.
French midfielder Claude Makelele was rested for Saturday's 1-0 win away to Villarreal, when a last-minute goal from Ivan Helguera kept the club top of the table. Makelele should return to play alongside Flavio Conceicao in the heart of the midfield.
Probable teams:
Lokomotiv: 1-Sergei Ovchinnikov, 2-Gennady Nizhegorodov, 4-Jakob Lekgetho, 5-Sergei Ignashevich, 14-Oleg Pashinin, 16-Vadim Yevseyev, 7-Marat Izmailov, 8-Vladimir Maminov, 10-Dmitry Loskov, 11-Julio Cesar, 25-Ruslan Pimenov.
Real: 1-Iker Casillas, 2-Michel Salgado, 22-Francisco Pavon, 6-Ivan Helguera, 21-Santiago Solari, 10-Luis Figo, 24-Claude Makelele, 16-Flavio Conceicao, 5-Zinedine Zidane, 7-Raul, 11-Ronaldo.
Referee: Claude Colombo (France).