Valencia, Porto close in on last eight spots

In Pool A Porto are sitting pretty to go through alongside group winners Barcelona although Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic could yet deny the Portuguese side.

Valencia’s last match would ordinarily be a tough assignment. They entertain United but know their visitors, having already qualified, are likely to rest several players and will definitely be without England midfielder David Beckham, who is suspended.

But Valencia themselves, who have surprised everyone with their performances in this year’s competition, must do without their injured midfielder Gaizka Mendieta whose form in the competition this season has been outstanding.

A draw could well be enough for Valencia as they have a superior record to Fiorentina in their head-to-head meetings. It would guarantee a second Spanish club into the quarter-finals with the possibility of Real Madrid joining them 24 hours later.

But Valencia’s Argentinian coach Hector Cuper said, “We are playing to win against United.”

Cuper also said he had no intention of keeping an ear on the radio to hear what was happening in Florence between the Italians and Bordeaux.

In reality only an improbable scoreline in Valencia would deny United winning the group which is the only real formality that remains to be completed for the team that won the competition in such dramatic circumstances last season.

That would ensure that United would go into the last eight draw as one of the pool winners, therefore being certain to avoid Barcelona — at least for now.

Beckham’s suspension denies the Valencia fans the chance of seeing not only one of the hottest properties in world football but also possibly the world’s most expensive haircut.

If newspaper reports in England have any truth in them Beckham’s decision to trade in his flowing blonde locks for a crewcut could have repercussions on a reported $ 6 million deal with Brylcream.

On the face of it, the match between Fiorentina and the French champions should be a formality given that Bordeaux are already out.

The Girondins are also depleted with defenders Kodjo Afanou and Francois Grenet joining suspended Nisa Saveljic and long term casualty David Jemmali on the sidelines.

Youngster Mathieu Beda and Laurent Batlles may be pressed into action although neither is fully fit.

Upfront Lilian Laslandes is back from suspension but French World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry is cup tied.

Fiorentina coach Giovanni Trapattoni has won this competition before with Juventus in 1985 although that triumph will forever be overshadowed by the death of 39, mainly Italian, fans because of rioting by Liverpool supporters.

Trapattoni has been boosted by a return to form of the club’s talismanic Argentinian striker Gabriel Batistuta, who scored a brilliant goal against United last week and followed suit against Cagliari on Saturday.

The other scorer against the Sardinians was Predrag Mijatovic whose single goal won the 1998 final for Real Madrid against Juventus. Trapattoni will hope that is an omen.

Some slack defending last week by FC Porto allowed Sparta Prague to stay in contention by coming from 2-0 down to grab a 2-2 draw in injury-time at Porto last week.

Porto coach Fernando Santos will be hoping his players have got that out of their system as he keeps faith with the players who were, on Saturday, knocked off the top of Portuguese First Division by Sporting Lisbon.

Their opponents Hertha Berlin are already eliminated but Santos will not be counting his chickens ahead of the trip to Berlin as his side has shown an alarming capacity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Berlin coach Jurgen Rober, whose men produced one of the better performances of the season against Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich at the weekend with a 1-1 draw in front of 75,000 at the Olympic Stadium, said his side saw this match more as a preparatory game for their next outing.

Porto will be comforted by the news that their rivals for the second Group A slot, Sparta Prague, will be playing Barcelona, the most impressive team in this year’s competition so far.

While coach Louis van Gaal is likely to rest some of his key players, Barca have a huge squad and have been in good form recently and are now just two points adrift of Primera Liga leaders Deportivo la Coruna in the domestic competition.

The Dutch coach has his hands slightly tied by the suspension of Portuguese winger Luis Figo and veteran defender Fernandez Abelardo while Finnish striker Jari Litmanen, who once scored in a Champions League final for Ajax Amsterdam, is ruled out because of injury.

Van Gaal’s Prague counterpart Ivan Hasek will not have it all his own way, however, and must do without the services of midfielder Miroslav Baranek who is suspended.

The Czechs know that only victory will do — and that will suffice only if Berlin do them a giant favour. But after their last-gasp heroics in Porto last week they will be guaranteed to pull out all the stops.