Carew eyeing Uefa Cup berth

Villa ace confident of European football

Last updated: 21st July 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Carew eyeing Uefa Cup berth

Carew: Celebrates first leg goal

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John Carew is confident Aston Villa can beat Danish outfit Odense BK on Saturday to progress into the Uefa Cup qualifying rounds.

The teams will re-join battle in their third-round Intertoto Cup tie after drawing the first leg 2-2 in Denmark at the weekend.

And Carew, who opened the scoring for Villa in the away leg, believes the team can progress, with their home support cheering them on at Villa Park

The Norwegian international told the club's official website: "It was a good start to the game for us after just two weeks back in training. We got two goals away from home so that is very positive.

Should win

"We will work hard to prepare for the second leg now. It's a game we should win and I'm sure we will do what is necessary at Villa Park with our fans backing us up."

The striker is an experienced European campaigner, having played in the Valencia side that made it to the UEFA Champions League final in 2001 before losing on penalties to Bayern Munich.

He now wants to taste European glory with Villa, saying

He added: "To reach the Uefa Cup is a big prize and we need to complete the task next week. It is a very big game and we will be ready."

Laursen praise

The striker also praised the other goalscorer in Denmark, centre-back Martin Laursen.

Carew added: "I was pleased for Martin Laursen to get a goal. It would have been even better if it had been the winning goal. But returning to his home country it was very important for him to do well."

Laursen also came in for praise from manager Martin O'Neill, who believes he could emulate the success of Villa legend Paul McGrath.

He said: "To become an iconic figure at a football club you have to be there for a number of years performing brilliantly, so let's hope so.

"It's not a bad comparison if you're going to compare Laursen to Paul McGrath because he was one of the greats."