Lippi eyes boost for Champions League

The pair are back in the squad after sitting out the 4-2 defeat in the first leg of the quarter-final against Saudi side Al Ittihad, though Brazilian striker Muriqui is missing for tomorrow's second leg.

Lippi said: "We have been able to get back some of our important players who will play in this game who were not available for the away game.

"We will be using their talents to lead the team this time, hopefully with no errors, and we believe we will be able to get through to the next round."

Opposite number Raul Caneda believes his side have the "weapons" to repeat their success of a fortnight ago, which came about after two second-half goals from Naif Hazazi.

"China is a new giant that is starting to appear and Guangzhou has been the leader of football in China in the last two years," he said.

"I always talk to my staff about Guangzhou as a big favourite for this competition for many reasons. They have the majority of the top players in China, top foreigners and they have great facilities.

"But they are not comfortable playing against us because we have a lot of values too. We have a lot of things you can't buy with money and we are going to fight with these weapons again."

Tomorrow's other game is finely poised after a goalless first leg between another Saudi side, Al Ahly, and Sepahan of Iran.

Al Ahly will be boosted by a formidable home support at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium but Sepahan coach Zlatko Kranjcar: "The presence of rival fans will give us the desire and motivation to win more. If we win it will be a sweet gift to our fans."

Wednesday sees Adelaide United travel to Uzbekistan needing a win to get past Bunyodkor after a 2-2 draw in Australia.

The two sides also met in the group stage of this year's competition and Adelaide can draw on a 2-1 win in Tashkent back in March.

Coach John Kosmina told the club's website: "I think it helps. The majority of the squad that will be travelling this time around will have been there before.

"They played well enough to wrap up the first leg in the first 30 minutes and there is no reason we can't go to Tashkent and believe we can play the same way."

Nigel Boogaard is suspended following his red card in the first leg but Jon McKain looks to have recovered from a knee injury in time to replace him.

Al Hilal and Ulsan Hyundai meet in the day's other game, with the Korean side leading 1-0 from the first leg.