Arboleda Likes Look of Lech's Chances

Polish sides do not have the best of records at the Stadio Friuli but Manuel Arboleda, hero and villain in last week's first leg, is adamant that KKS Lech Poznań can complete an unlikely comeback at Udinese Calcio in their UEFA Cup Round of 32 decider.

Late comeback
The 29-year-old was in the thick of the action as the sides played out an entertaining 2-2 draw last Thursday. He put through his own net to give the visitors a two-goal lead early in the second half but, after Hernán Rengifo had reduced the arrears, the Colombian defender quickly made amends with a late leveller. "Perhaps the result was not very good as we do not have an advantage, but we can take a lot from the draw," Arboleda told uefa.com. "After 81 minutes we were 2-0 down at home and some might have thought it was over, but not us. We always fight to the end, which we have already proved in the UEFA Cup. We only qualified for the group stage thanks to a goal deep into extra time against Austria Wien."

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'Good enough'
Udinese's record against Polish clubs stands at three games, three wins, six goals scored and none conceded – Arboleda is not cowed, however. "I am certain we can beat Udinese," he said. "We are good enough to stand up to this challenge and succeed. Before the first match I was a bit nervous as we hadn't played a competitive game since December due to the winter break in Poland, while Udinese had played a lot in Serie A during that period. But we saw in Poznan that the difference between the two sides is not so big. I know that no Polish club has ever won in Udinese, but Lech can do it."

Colombia dream
Arboleda has impressed since arriving in Poznan from Polish second-tier club Zagłębie Lubin at the beginning of the season, and sees the UEFA Cup as the perfect platform to display his talents to a wider audience. "The matches against Udinese are giving me the chance to play against Cristián Zapata, who is also Colombian," Arboleda said. "He is a defender too, but he is luckier than me as he has been called up to the national team: I am sad that I have never had the chance. I'm not saying I am better than others, only that I deserve to be given a chance. Maybe this UEFA Cup campaign with Lech will help me to realise my dream of playing for my country."

Udinese concerns
Udinese, meanwhile, will be without the injured Damiano Ferronetti and Fernando Tissone, while Alexis Sánchez is banned and goalkeeper Samir Handanovič is doubtful after missing the 1-0 weekend loss against struggling Torino FC with a knee injury. "We should have killed the tie off in Poland when we were leading 2-0," said left-back Giovanni Pasquale. "We conceded two late goals but it was not easy to play in the snow. Everything will be decided at the Stadio Friuli but we have a good advantage after scoring two away goals. The UEFA Cup has always been one of our most important objectives this season, and we will give our all to qualify."

( Piotr Koźmiński / UEFA )