Juventus and Real Madrid face anxious night
Manchester United and AC Milan play their penultimate Champions League second phase matches on Wednesday knowing they are already safely through but Juventus and holders Real Madrid still have much to do.
Manchester United and AC Milan play their penultimate Champions League second phase matches on Wednesday knowing they are already safely through but Juventus and holders Real Madrid still have much to do.
United, with four wins out of four, top Group D and will rest several players against Basel at Old Trafford.
Juventus, stunned 3-0 at home by United last time out, host Deportivo Coruna with the Spaniards knowing a win would send them through.
Milan are in a similar position to United in Group C but say they will be going all out to eliminate Real Madrid when they host the defending champions.
Real, who have scraped their way through the competition so far, have just five points from four games and cannot afford to wait until their last game against Lokomotiv Moscow to be sure of going through.
German champions Borussia Dortmund, who have four points, will look to beat the Russians in Germany and then see what they have to do in Milan in their last game.
Milan's Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa says the Italian club are approaching Wednesday's game as an opportunity to remove one of their major rivals for the title.
"If we really want to win the Champions League, it's better to eliminate Real," he said.
"There's not a man among us who would be sad if they were no longer in our way."
Milan -- like Barcelona who qualified from Group A on Tuesday -- have been unstoppable in Europe this season. They beat Real 1-0 in the San Siro in November but have stuttered domestically.
On Sunday they drew 0-0 with Chievo -- a result that left them a distant third in Serie A -- six points behind leaders Juventus.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti has said that Italian international striker Filippo Inzaghi will be rested for the Real game.
Madrid could have been out of the running already, having twice come from behind to take four points from Dortmund.
They go into the game with Ronaldo as a major doubt. The Brazilian striker pulled a muscle, forcing him off at halftime during the 4-1 victory over Racing Santander at the weekend.
Guti or Javier Portillo, who grabbed the injury-time equaliser against the Germans to secure a 1-1 draw last month, are in competition to replace him.
Dortmund carry the hopes of Germany on their shoulders against Lokomotiv. If they failed to progress, Germany would be without a team in the quarter-finals of European club competition for the first time in 19 years.
The German champions, still stinging after allowing Real's late equaliser, warmed up in poor fashion for Wednesday with a 1-0 weekend defeat by lowly Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Lokomotiv are just getting going domestically. They won the pre-season Supercup at the weekend but with just one point to their name in Europe they have virtually no chance of getting through.
Manager Alex Ferguson has promised his Group D rivals that Manchester United will be going all out to beat Basel, but said he would bring in some new faces.
"I would hate to have a bad performance and have all sorts of question marks asked," he said.
United have been hit by a long list of injuries, topped by knee problems for Roy Keane and Juan Sebastian Veron.
Ferguson also hinted that striker Ruud van Nistelrooy would be rested and two of the club's talented youngsters -- possibly Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson -- would be given starting roles.
Basel coach Christian Gross has a near fully fit squad to choose from as he seeks to return to winning ways after the Swiss side's 1-0 defeat at Deportivo Coruna.
Deportivo visit Turin looking for the win that will send them through at Juve's expense thanks to their 2-2 draw in the game between the two in Spain. It would be the third year in succession that the Galician side had made it to the last eight.
However, a 0-0 or 1-1 draw would swing the advantage to the Italians, who would then be certain of qualification with a victory over Basel in their final match.
Moroccan defender Noureddine Naybet and midfield powerhouse Mauro Silva return after being rested at the weekend, while Victor came through the 2-1 victory over Villarreal unscathed after a six-week injury lay-off and should start on the right wing.
Juve welcome back playmaker Pavel Nedved to midfield while David Trezeguet's spectacular winning goal against Udinese at the weekend suggested he is coming back to form after a long lay-off for a knee injury.