O'Leary settles for bottom line in Leeds

There must have been times in the past when David O'Leary thought to himself that if he didn't see Jack Charlton again it would still be too soon. Yet, yesterday afternoon as he sat in the latest corporate entertainment room to be opened at Elland Road, O'Leary must have looked at the images on the walls and thought to himself: "How I could do with him against AC Milan."

The room in question is the Jack Charlton Suite and photographs and mementoes from Charlton's career are everywhere. With Andrei Shevchenko, Oliver Bierhoff and the Brazilian Leonardo likely to be at the front of a 3-4-3 Milan formation, what O'Leary would give for an uncompromising, experienced centre-half such as Charlton. Then again, what O'Leary would give for merely a fit centre-half, or for that matter a fit squad to choose from.

Injuries to as many as seven key players have, even after one game, undermined Leeds United's first steps into the hothouse of the Champions League to the extent that O'Leary is already predicting that last week's opponents Barcelona, and tonight's, AC Milan, will progress through to the next stage.

Nor was this simply managerial kidology. O'Leary was giving legitimate explanations of Leeds' run of defeats to Manchester City, Barcelona and Ipswich Town, not excuses. For Leeds now, he said, the Champions League is all about gaining experience so that Leeds can try and reach it again next season.

"The bottom line for this club and for me is to do well in my league and to finish in the top three again," O'Leary said. "That's my goal. We did unbelievably well to get into the Champions League. But were we going to win it, or do well in it, or get into the final stages? No chance. Let's not kid ourselves, and if anybody is they should be locked up.

"I had to set some sort of yardstick and my yardstick was Arsenal Football Club, who, with the quality of players they had - the Overmars and Petits who we were raving about down in Barcelona - they couldn't get out of the first phase and they were a double-winning side. They haven't got out of the first phase in the last few years and I don't think they've been in as hard a group as we're in.

"This is a very, very hard group and you know the way it has been drawn that Barcelona and Milan will come through because that's what UEFA want. That's what the world of football wants because they're two of the greatest clubs in the world."

O'Leary may have sounded as if Leeds' participation was already over but prior to this had said: "We haven't given up. My mother lit a few candles yesterday and I had a quiet few words in church."

Presumably O'Leary was praying for the swift return of his centre-back captain Lucas Radebe after sustaining a neck injury when he was headed by Michael Duberry in the Nou Camp. According to O'Leary, however, Radebe is: "Nowhere near consideration and I would say he is very, very doubtful for Saturday."

With Stephen McPhail a doubt after tweaking his Achilles against Ipswich - though not seriously - the good news was that Eirik Bakke and Dominic Matteo, signed from Liverpool for £4.5 million last month and yet to play, both trained for the first time yesterday morning. Leeds' predicament is such that both could feature in some form this evening.

Another who definitely will not is Mark Viduka, still in Sydney despite Australia's elimination from the Olympics. Asked if he had tried to contact the Australian coach to secure Viduka's early release, O'Leary replied: "I never made the call because I knew it would be a pointless call." But was he disappointed that Viduka himself had not made more effort to return? "I'll leave that to you. But good question."

Milan have three players at the Olympics themselves but given the relative fragility of affairs at Elland Road, it was as if O'Leary's opposite number Alberto Zaccheroni was being artful when referring to: "The performance of our fringe players, they acquitted themselves well," in their Italian cup tie at Torino on Saturday. "It's a great boost for morale," he said.

In fact Zaccheroni's only real doubt came from Real Madrid in the summer: Fernando Redondo for £11 million. Not a bad Milan squad then.

Serie A does not begin until Saturday week but Milan should be sharp after that 31 victory over Torino. It followed their 6-1 aggregate defeat of Dynamo Zagreb in the qualifying round and their 4-1 dismissal of Besiktas in this group last Wednesday. Shevchenko did not play in the Torino cuptie but in the other three matches he scored twice in each. He will be just 24 next Thursday, yet last season, his first in Italy since his transfer from Dynamo Kiev, he was Serie A's top scorer with 24 goals.

AC Milan, meanwhile, have not scored in England since 1972 at White Hart Lane and have not won one of their nine games in England. Something says Shevchenko will change both of those records.

No Italian side, though, has beaten Leeds at Elland Road in the past with united having won four and drawn two of the six matches in the various European competition, stretching back to 1965.

"I know it's going to be particularly difficult against Leeds because they area good team at home," said Zaccheroni. "Although it has to be said that we do play with a lot of courage away. It's a big advantage for us that all those quality Leeds players are out."