Marseille aiming to finish off Ajax in UEFA Cup

Marseille is at Ajax in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday confident that it can finish what it started when it beat the Dutch club last week.

Marseille beat its fellow former European champion 2-1 in France to take a slim advantage into the second leg of the round-of-16 match, and is on a high after going within a point of longtime leader Lyon in the French league.

Marseille won 3-1 at fierce rival Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday with a performance that could be ideal preparation for another tough away trip _ this time to the Amsterdam ArenA.

"Our confidence is huge and that must help us to continue and progress," midfielder Lorik Cana said.

Ajax warmed up for the match with a 3-0 Dutch league win over De Graafschap at the weekend, but, despite dominating possession, the Amsterdam club gave away several chances through careless play and could be punished by a better side.

Marseille coach Erik Gerets, who played and managed in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven, may make changes to a winning team to ensure his players aren't too tired with the final still five matches away.

Boudewijn Zenden was man of the match after scoring the first goal against PSG, but even if he sits out the match, Marseille can call upon Mamadou Niang or Hatem Ben Arfa to replace him.

"We have a coach who knows Dutch football," said Cana, who also scored Sunday. "We will listen to him and try to apply what he tells us. There will perhaps be changes but Marseille will have a very competitive team on the field."

PSG's first loss in eight matches hit its preparations for its UEFA Cup match at Braga, one of six on Thursday. The teams are tied 0-0 following the first match.

Ukrainian rivals Dynamo Kiev and Metalist Kharkiv are tied 1-1, while Hamburg is also at 1-1 ahead of its visit to 2000 UEFA Cup winner Galatasaray.

Although Hamburg beat Energie Cottbus 2-0 on Sunday to keep alive its challenge for the Bundesliga title, it will be without key striker Mladen Petric after he tore a right thigh muscle in that match.

His replacement, Piotr Trochowski, scored the second goal but damaged knee ligaments and could also miss the match in Istanbul.

Also Thursday, defending champion Zenit St. Petersburg needs to overturn a 2-0 deficit against visiting Udinese.

Udinese has extra motivation to progress in Russia. As the last Italian club still playing in Europe, Udinese could help maintain the country's standing in the UEFA rankings and keep Serie A's fourth Champions League berth.

"It means more responsibility, but we don't feel like we're the saviors of Italian football," forward Fabio Quagliarella said. "We've just got to do our job, that's it. A two-goal lead is pretty good, but it's still going to be tough to advance."

Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic is likely to return after missing Sunday's 1-1 draw with Catania, but defenders Andrea Coda and Maurizio Domizzi are out.

All three of Udinese's forwards _ Quagliarella, Antonio Di Natale and Simone Pepe _ play for Italy.

CSKA Moscow, the 2005 winner, is at Shakhtar Donetsk with a 1-0 lead, and Manchester City takes a 2-0 lead to Aalborg.

With City manager Mark Hughes reportedly unhappy at Robinho's work ethic, the Brazil striker could sit out the match anyway after he was substituted in Sunday's 1-0 Premier League loss at Chelsea because of an ankle problem.

Saint-Etienne hosts Werder Bremen in Wednesday's other match.