Liverpool have been boosted by Milan Baros’ form

Paris: Liverpool and last year’s finalists Celtic are confident of progressing to the last 16 of the Uefa Cup as they take comfortable leads into their third round second leg matches on Wednesday.

In contrast, Italian big guns Inter Milan and AS Roma are both teetering on the edge of humiliation against relative minnows Sochaux of France and Turkish side Gaziantepspor.

Gerard Houllier’s shaky hold on the managerial job at Liverpool was slightly bolstered by last week’s 2-0 defeat of Bulgarian side Levski Sofia at Anfield.

Liverpool, who are listed as 10-1 by British bookmakers to win the trophy they last lifted in 2001, have been boosted by the turbo-charged form of Czech striker Milan Baros since his return from injury. “He (Baros) has been missing for six months and now when I watch him, I realise just what we have been missing,” said Houllier.

Australian forward Harry Kewell will be looking to add to the goals he scored in the first leg and in the weekend Premiership draw against Leeds.

Celtic are romping away with the Scottish title so manager Martin O’Neill is urging his players on to pick up other trophies.

A 3-0 lead over FK Teplice should be enough for O’Neill’s men to progress in the Czech Republic.

Newcastle’s home tie with Norwegian side Valerenga is poised at 1-1 and it is certain that coach Bobby Robson will not repeat his tactics of last week when he angered veteran striker Alan Shearer by resting him on the bench.

Inter Milan were held 2-2 by Sochaux in the first leg in France and despite gaining two valuable away goals the out-of-form Italians will need to put their foot down to pull away from the team lying fourth in the French league.

The Inter players were pelted with missiles by their disgruntled fans after their 1-3 home defeat to Brescia on Sunday which left them sixth on the table, 22 points behind leaders and bitter city rivals AC Milan.

Sochaux were boosted on Monday when the club announced that their Brazilian-born Tunisian international Santos would play in Wednesday’s match.

He was set to miss the game after traces of corticoids, or steroid hormones which reduce fatigue and swelling, were found in his urine following a routine check-up.

But club president Jean-Claude Plessis said the importance of the drugs had been overblown.

“The issue is cleared up. We had declared him positive when in fact he wasn’t,” said Plessis. “The reading was amplified by stress and the birth of his daughter yesterday (Sunday).”

Roma have potentially the trickiest task of the night as they host Turkish side Gaziantepspor, who are leading 1-0 from the first leg.

Spanish giants Barcelona will expect to build on their 1-0 first leg lead against Danish side Brondby at the Nou Camp.

Former European champions, Marseille, meanwhile head to the cold of the Ukraine to put a narrow 1-0 lead against Dniepropetrovsk on the line.