McManaman 'fully expects' City to dispose of Lokeren

If the Lokeren coach, Paul Put, wished to inspire his side before tonight's Uefa Cup second-leg match against Manchester City, who are defending a 3-2 lead, he would merely have to pin Steve McManaman's comments about the Belgian club to the dressing-room wall at the Daknam Stadium.

"It would be a travesty if we went out to a team bottom of the Belgian First Division," said McManaman, who in his last match for City tasted defeat to a club bottom of the Premiership. "I have been following their results closely. They haven't won a game and have had a lot of defeats. We should have won the first leg more comfortably. We fully expect to go through and look forward to bigger and better things in the future."

McManaman is expected to return to action after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the recent 1-0 Premiership defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Richard Dunne (ankle) and Danny Tiatto (dead leg) could also come into contention after missing that match. Trevor Sinclair will hope to start after being on the bench against Wolves.

Kevin Keegan, the City manager, returning to Belgium for the first time since the embarrassments of Euro 2000, was more circumspect than McManaman, describing the tie as "on a knife edge".

The same could not be said of Newcastle United's journey to the Netherlands, where they will defend a 5-0 first-leg advantage against NAC Breda.

Nevertheless their manager, Sir Bobby Robson, continues to be troubled by Craig Bellamy, who for a second time returned to Tyneside from international duty with a knee injury and will miss the match. Last month the row between Newcastle and the Welsh Football Association over Bellamy culminated with both sides consulting their solicitors but yesterday Robson chose to use some heavy irony. "We sent him for a scan to compare the state of his knee to what it was a month ago when he complained bitterly about it," Robson said. "In the meantime he recovered, never felt better in his life and now he's come back again injured."

Southampton, playing their first European tie since 1984, may fall at the first hurdle as they face a daunting encounter with Steaua Bucharest, who forced a 1-1 draw at St Mary's.

The call by the Southampton manager, Gordon Strachan, for his side to show the same besieged spirit England displayed in Istanbul was also not without irony since a similar goalless draw would see his team eliminated on the away-goals rule. But Strachan claimed he intended to attack in Romania. "We'll try to win because we are not clever enough to do anything else," he said.

The Blackburn manager, Graeme Souness, has admitted being saddened by the hostility which currently exists between England and Turkey.

Souness' Rovers take on the Turkish side Genclerbirligi in the second leg of their first-round tie at Ewood Park. But after managing Galatasaray for a year, Souness believes there is a misconception relating to people from that country.

"I had 12 wonderful months in Turkey," said Souness, whose side must overturn a 3-1 deficit. "I found the people warm, friendly and passionate, so it saddens me there is this atmosphere. Obviously they've a few lunatics who go and watch their football, but then so have we - most countries have."

There have been allegations, so far unfounded, that racist comments were made by the members of the Turkish team to England's black players.

But Souness believes it would be hypocritical to single out Turkish football for having a problem with racism. "Unfortunately, that [racism] is in our football as well," Souness said. "We're trying to change it and everybody in football is trying to change it. We shouldn't be pointing the finger at Turkish football. I think it's a problem we also have in our country."

Craig Levein, the Hearts coach, is determined to see his team play their part in boosting Scottish football's poor image in Europe by eliminating Zeljeznicar. Levein claims the Bosnian side were confident of progressing beyond the first round when they were drawn against the Edinburgh side and their shock at the 2-0 defeat in the first leg at Tynecastle was evident when the coach, Amar Osim, was sacked as a result.

The Hearts squad flew out to Sarajevo yesterday in confident mood and Levein now hopes that success at the Olympic Stadium tonight will see his side do their part in reinventing Scottish football in the eyes of the rest of Europe.

"When teams are looking at European draws, they are hoping they can get Scottish teams," he said. "I do know that the Zeljeznicar people thought that it was a good draw for them. That inspires us, along with the fact that Celtic and Rangers have done well so far this year.

"Celtic also did well last year and it raises the profile, and maybe other teams around Europe won't be so keen to draw Scottish teams in the future."