Aurelio out to end Euro misery

Full-back hoping to feature against Standard Liege

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 27th August 2008

Fabio Aurelio Liverpool

Aurelio: Cruel injuries

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Fabio Aurelio is hoping to avoid the curse of the UEFA Champions League this season.

Liverpool's Brazilian full-back has picked up cruel injuries in each of the last two years while on European duty.

On both occasions his season has virtually been written off, with Achilles and groin problems causing respective absences.

Despite the bad luck which appears to follow him around in Europe's premier club competition, Aurelio is hoping to be back in action for the Reds in the second leg of their qualifying encounter against Standard Liege on Wednesday.

Concentrate

"Unfortunately, the injuries came at bad times for me and meant I missed some important games when I had been enjoying my football and playing well," the former Valencia man told the Liverpool Echo.

"Now I am hoping that my most recent injury will turn out to be the last one and I can go on and play many more games.

"Injuries are part of football and sometimes you can be unlucky but you cannot afford to dwell on that, all you can do is get yourself fit again and concentrate on getting back to your best."

While recovering on the sidelines this summer Aurelio saw Rafa Bentiez splash out £6million on Udinese full-back Andrea Dossena.

However, the confident South American believes competition for places is all part of the job.

"You know that when you are at a big club you will always have pressure on your position, that's just the way it is," he added.

"Andrea is a good player and a good signing for us and that means we will have a good fight for the place at left-back."

Confidence

Liverpool were fortunate to return from Belgium unscathed in the first leg of their European contest, grinding out a 0-0 draw.

They will be expected to raise their game back at Anfield, especially as they have begun the new Premier League campaign with back-to-back wins.

"It is good that we have started the season well by taking points from our first games and now we can look forward to the game at Anfield with confidence," said Aurelio.

"We are a big club and a big team and that means we must always fight for the big titles.

"During the 90 minutes anything can happen, but if we don't make mistakes we will have a better chance of going through and that would mean we can think about fighting against big teams again (in the group stages)."