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Europa League last 16, second leg, Anfield 8.05pm kick-off (agg 0-1)

Kenny Dalglish backs Andy Carroll to deliver knockout blow against Braga

• Liverpool manager angry with 'deliberate' elbow on striker
• 'The best way for Andy to respond is by being on winning side'

• Tim Rich
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 March 2011 22.00 GMT <li class="history">Article history
  
  Andy Carroll needed lengthy treatment after being elbowed in the face by the Braga defender Kaká. Photograph: Paulo Duarte/AP Andy Carroll, football's most expensive Englishman, is due to start his first game for Liverpool. He has not begun a serious match for two and a half months; he has a £35m price tag to justify, Liverpool need a goal and he is nursing a sense of grievance. The combination is nothing if not combustible.
  His manager, Kenny Dalglish, said that the elbow delivered late in the first leg by Braga's Brazilian defender Kaká was "meant to hurt" and wondered aloud why Uefa had taken no action. Carroll, who had come on as a second-half substitute, was not even awarded a free-kick. "If it were one of our players or a British player there would have been mayhem. For something as deliberate as that they must surely have some form of retrospective retribution," said Dalglish.
  In the immediate aftermath of Liverpool's 1-0 defeat in Portugal, Dalglish made little of the incident as he had not seen it. It was only after reviewing the club's feeblest European performance of the season on television that he became concerned. As a player, Dalglish had his cheekbone broken in a collision with Manchester United's Kevin Moran in 1984. "I do know how dangerous it can be," he said. "But it is not just because it has happened to me. I have seen it happen to a lot of other people. It is one thing going up to protect yourself, it is another going up to hurt an opponent. That was [meant] to hurt Andy."
  Given that Carroll troubled Braga throughout his 34 minutes on the pitch, it would be a surprise if he did not start his first match since his move from Newcastle United. The 22-year-old possesses an often volatile temper, although Dalglish was confident he will not be drawn into retaliation in a match Liverpool have to win by two clear goals. "The best way for him to respond would be to do what he did last week: keeping his composure," he said. "That's a great credit to him. The best way for Andy to answer anything is to be on the winning side. That is the same for everyone because they will all be aggrieved. The best way to vent our anger would be to get a good result."
  Despite their defeat in Portugal and their lack of an away goal, that is something Liverpool remain confident of. In September, Braga were swept away 6-0 at Arsenal, after which their coach, Domingos Paciência, said: "We did not manage to be even a little of what we usually are." They, at least, have survived in European competition a little longer than Arsenal, the club that inspired their foundation.
  They were good enough to overcome an insipid Liverpool in the ground known locally as La Pedriera (the Quarry) but Dalglish imagined Braga would have to be rather better to survive to the quarter-finals of the Europa League. "I expect them to be very much as they were in the first leg," he said. "They were not too offensive there, although they were better than us. We were very disappointed with how we played and we will step up our game at Anfield. If Braga don't step up to the plate, they could be in a bit of trouble."
  Steven Gerrard is making good progress after his groin operation and should be back for the last month of the season but Liverpool's is now a starkly-defined campaign. The draw for the FA Cup semi-finals ensured that either Bolton Wanderers or Stoke City will qualify for next season's Europa League with Birmingham City. If they are not to experience a season without European football for the first time in 12 years, Liverpool will either have to overtake Tottenham Hotspur, who are six points ahead, have a game in hand and a better goal difference to finish fifth, or win the Europa League.
  "We don't need that for extra motivation," Dalglish said. "The players enjoy European football. We have got to keep pushing to get as high as we can up the league and as far as we can in this competition. We might fall short in some areas but we won't fall short in attitude."
  Liverpool (probable 4-2-3-1): Reina; Carragher, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Johnson; Spearing, Poulsen; Kuyt, Meireles, Cole; Carroll.
  Braga (probable: 4-2-3-1): Artur; Garcia, Kaká, Rodriguez, Silvio; Salino, Viana; Alan, Mossoro, Paulo César; Lima.
  Referee Gianluca Rocchi (It)
  
  

 

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Manchester City (0) v Dynamo Kyiv (2), Europa League, 6pm Thursday 17 March

City aim to help Roberto Mancini break new ground against Dynamo Kyiv

&#8226; Italian manager has never overturned a two-goal deficit
&#8226; Carlos Tevez may be rested before Chelsea match

• Daniel Taylor
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 March 2011 22.30 GMT <li class="history">Article history
  
  Manchester City's defeat to Dynamo Kyiv was tough viewing for Roberto Mancini and he faces a tough task on Thursday. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images It was the final question when Roberto Mancini was asked whether he could ever remember overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit in almost 30 years in the game, that the Manchester City manager put into context the task facing his team in their Europa League tie against Dynamo Kyiv.
  "Never," Mancini said. "Two-nil is very different, it's a very bad scoreline for us." Should Dynamo score one, for example, City would need four goals to progress to the quarter-finals. Mancini conducted an angry dressing-room postmortem after the defeat at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy stadium last week.
  Yet Dynamo are traditionally notstrong travellers and, as City prepared in the position of underdogs, there was a clear sense at Eastlands of a team wanting to make up for their shortcomings in Ukraine.
  "I think we were caught by surprise last week," the defender Vincent Kompany said. "None of us expected Dynamo to be such a good team. We know they were a good team but on the day they were very good. That was the surprise.
  "It was an away game in Ukraine, quite different conditions, long travel, you have to adapt to all this. We didn't really handle the conditions. They did their jobs very well and we were on a bad day. But the past is the past. We know what we're up against now so there will be no surprises this time."
  The dilemma for Mancini is that he must balance his desire to play a strong team with the knowledge that City's next assignment is at Chelsea on Sunday. The Italian has spoken many times of his team suffering from the sapping effects of a season that has already featured 47 games but he does not go along with the theory that dropping out of the Europa League would be an advantage to a team battling for a top-four finish in the Premier League and preparing for an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United.
  "It's very difficult for me to think like this," he said. "I always want to win and to try and go to the quarter-final. That should always be our only mentality."
  Nonetheless he touched again on the issue of fatigue, admitting there had been a dip in Carlos Tevez's level of performance; the Argentinian may be rested. James Milner could be on the bench after his recent hamstring problem and Mancini reported that Adam Johnson was close to a return after nearly two months out with an ankle injury. However, Pablo Zabaleta is on compassionate leave in Argentina and will miss the tie.
  Manchester City possible (4-2-3-1): Hart; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov; Vieira, Barry; Silva, Y Touré, Balotelli; Dzeko.
  Dynamo Kyiv possible (4-2-3-1): Shovkovskiy; Danilo Silva, Khacheridi, Yussuf, Popov; Vukojevic, Eremenko; Gusev, Shevchenko, Yarmolenko; Kravets.
  Referee: C Cakir (Tur).
  
  

 

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