Motherwell have gone from the brink of oblivion to the fringe of the Champions League

Football Writer

Tuesday 31 July 2012

SHORTLY before 7.40pm tonight, Keith Lasley will pull on the captain's armband and turn to shout encouragement to his team-mates, before leading them out of the tunnel while the sound of Handel's anthemic Zadok the Priest rings out around Fir Park.

Stuart McCall hopes the pressure will get to the Greeks tonight as his Motherwell side look to make sure their first venture into the Champions League proves to be an enduring one.

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Graeme Macpherson

Motherwell are making their debut in the Champions League, a surreal few months for Scottish football taking yet another weird twist.

If their appearance in the third qualifying round of Europe's premier club competition can be largely attributed to Rangers' fall from grace, then Motherwell are determined to make the most of their good fortune. Stuart McCall did his best to play down his team's chances against Panathinaikos but even if Motherwell are the underdogs there is still a part of the Motherwell manager that hopes and prays they can somehow get a result that keeps them in contention ahead of the second leg in Athens next week.

The club's fans are clearly daring to dream too, judging by the queue for tickets that snaked out of the stadium and down the street yesterday lunchtime. For a club of this size these supporters have been spoiled for success in recent seasons but Champions League football, even in the qualifying stages, has raised anticipation levels to a new high. Lasley, who succeeds Stephen Craigan as captain, has experienced plenty during his two stints at the club, but believes this tie to be the greatest of them all, ranking it more significant than even last year's appearance in the Scottish Cup final."The implications, financially, for the club in getting through are massive in terms of the overall sustainability of the club for the coming years," said the midfielder. "It's a big, big game and there is the prestige of being involved in the Champions League. I know it is the qualifying rounds, but it is certainly the biggest game I have been involved in so far. The build-up is great and just to be involved in it is something special."Lasley is ideally placed to offer a sense of perspective. Ten years ago he watched as 19 of his Motherwell team-mates, as well as numerous staff behind the scenes, lost their jobs after the club went into administration. In those dark days the idea of Motherwell bouncing back to the point where they would be competing in the Champions League seemed unimaginable."I still vividly remember being about the club those few days," he added. "There were real doubts about the club as a whole at that point. So we are delighted to be in this position within 10 years, and it is not just this season. We have performed really well and been involved in European competition in other seasons and punched above our weight in that respect. "Even in recent history you always associate the Champions League with either side of the Old Firm, and certainly at Motherwell I never thought we'd achieve that. It's something new, something exciting and we earned it last year, albeit the goings-on at Rangers allowed us to play in the competition. But once we knew what was happening there, we still had to go and secure third place and we managed to do that. So we have to make sure that we do ourselves justice now that we are here."McCall, on the occasion of his European debut as manager, feels the pressure is all on his side's Greek opponents to win the tie. "Panathinaikos are not the team they were five or six years ago," he said. "They've had their problems financially and I read Jean-Alain Boumsong saying the players haven't been paid in a couple of weeks."But they are under tremendous pressure going into this game. They must win it because they must reach the group stages. I don't know too much about the manager, although I know he is a wily old campaigner. But he will know there is more pressure on him. That could work in our favour."We need to believe we can keep the tie alive by getting a result here at home. No-one else in Scotland will believe we have a chance but as long as we believe then we've got a chance. It would be massive if we could win the game, of course it would, but I just want the tie to be alive going into the second leg."McCall compared the challenge of facing Panathinaikos to Celtic or Rangers, in their pomp, coming to Fir Park. Motherwell have performed well against both halves of the Old Firm in recent seasons, something that imbues the manager with further confidence."We've done well against Rangers and Celtic at home. We've beaten Celtic here and only lost out to a late Lee McCulloch goal against Rangers," he added. "We have to look at that. I don't think there is much between Panathinaikos and Celtic, for example. We'd still be underdogs in these games but we always have a chance. It's 90 minutes of Champions League football and the fans need to stick with us."* Funding uncertainties have left Panathinaikos head coach Jesualdo Ferreira wary ahead of his side's Champions League third qualifying round tie against Motherwell tonight.Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis has not made the trip to Scotland as he is still in negotiations over a new contract with the cash-strapped club.The 35-year-old, who scored the goal against Russia that sent his country into the Euro 2012 quarter-finals, seems unlikely to feature in next week's second leg of the third qualifying round in Athens.At Fir Park last night, Portuguese Ferreira said: "I would say Panathinaikos are the favourite due to its history but both clubs are experiencing change and this change can produce surprises. Motherwell is a club with a short story in the Champions League but it's a chance for them to make history."Panathinaikos reached the final of the European Cup in 1971 and this is why they are favourites. But history shows you only have favourites until you reach the pitch, and then you have to prove your ability."The Greek side's former Rangers defender Jean-Alain Boumsong revealed at the weekend he and his team-mates are waiting for overdue wages."We're going to face a very good team, especially as their fans will be behind them. We have to stick together," said the Frenchman, who believes the issue of Rangers' finances serves as a warning. He said: "It's a bad surprise, but it's a lesson for everyone that football is not protected from the crisis. Hopefully every team will notice that they have to be careful with their financial situation. You can be on top one day and if you don't work hard to stay on top then you will collapse."Another Greece midfielder, Kostas Katsouranis, looks likely to start as a substitute after last week returning to training following his Euro 2012 exertions.

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Motherwell have gone from the brink of oblivion to the fringe of the Champions League

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