Dacourt pays for comments

Olvier Dacourt has been fined by Leeds following his verbal assault on the club last week.

Boss Terry Venables reacted furiously to Dacourt's branding of the club's form as "a disgrace", accusing the Frenchman of deliberately attempting to secure a move away from Elland Road.

Dacourt, who is recovering from a hip injury and will play no part in tonight's crucial UEFA Cup third round, second leg clash with Malaga, insisted this week he had been misquoted and called for clear-the-air talks with chairman Peter Ridsdale.

Venables said: "Olivier has been fined and as far as I am concerned it has all been dealt with and it is finished.

"Olivier says the English press were exaggerating and took it all out of context. Well I've seen the transcript . . . if that's the case he should be thinking about suing the English newspapers."

Dacourt has four years left on his Elland Road contract but Venables accused him last week of "engineering to find a way out for the last 12 months".

Leeds were held to a goalless draw in the first leg in Spain two weeks ago and Venables approaches tonight's game with his future still on a knife-edge after four successive Premiership defeats.

But he insisted he has not lost faith in the ability of his beleaguered players despite their plummet towards the Premiership relegation zone.

He believes a chronic lack of confidence remains the major factor behind the club's current plight and believes the decreased pressure of their European campaign could be the ideal spark to reignite the season.

"I don't think there is any lack of ability but it is a confidence thing. Some of the young lads have not been through anything like this before and it is a different kind of pressure to what they are used to."

Lee Bowyer returns after he missed Saturday's defeat at Fulham after aggravating an ankle injury in training.

Robbie Fowler will start on the bench again after playing the second half at Loftus Road, but Australian pair Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka are both ruled out again.

Leeds (0) v Malaga (0)

TV: Channel 5 (kick-off 8.0)