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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Character key for confident Kežman

/noticias.info/ Sevilla FC may be attracting admiring glances for their mastery of the knockout format, but Mateja Kežman insists Fenerbahçe SK have the experience to end the Spanish club's UEFA Champions League challenge on Tuesday.

First-leg lead
The Istanbul giants visit Andalusia knowing their hosts have collected five trophies in the last two years, including back-to-back UEFA Cups. However, they also come boasting a 3-2 advantage from their first knockout round opener on 20 February. And while neither team had travelled this far in the competition until now, Sevilla had never even competed at this exalted level before this season. By contrast, Fenerbahçe, making their fifth UEFA Champions League appearance, have been carefully learning the ropes along the way.

'Character and quality'
"Of course we expect a difficult game, but we got a good result in the first leg," said Kežman, who opened the scoring with a header a fortnight ago. "We accept that Sevilla are the favourites but we have experience in our side. The important thing will be to get through the first 15 minutes, and if we can do that we have the character and quality to cause a surprise. This is not a team of youngsters."

Fanatical support
Even without injured veteran Roberto Carlos, right-back Gökhan Gönül is likely to be the only starter under 25, and Kežman himself has previous knowledge of the competition from his time with PSV Eindhoven and Chelsea FC. As a former Club Atlético de Madrid player, he also knows a thing or two about the Spanish game and turned out in a goalless draw at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán in 2005/06. "Sevilla have fanatical support," the 28-year-old recalled. "They're like Fenerbahçe fans and they're close to the pitch, so that will make things difficult for us. But we're used to that and we'll cope."

Defensive errors
Should the Turkish club's experience prove insufficient to see them through, Kežman believes that a generous Sevilla defence will do the rest. Coach Manuel Jiménez has been frustrated by his rearguard's "unforced errors" this term, and Kežman is raring to make them pay again. "We scored three in Istanbul and, to be honest, we could have scored even more," said the Serbian international. "I think we need to score to go through because it's not certain we can stop them completely, but we can do it. We haven't come here to defend." notas_de_prensa_archivo