Real test of strength for Leeds

Bigger and bigger, Leeds United's season just keeps getting bigger and bigger. It may come as a surprise to hear that this annoys David O'Leary, because ultimately it is a tribute to Leeds's success under him, it's just that O'Leary is constantly being asked if each game is the biggest he has ever been involved in.

He was asked it before playing Roma last season, and the season before that, he was asked it before Leeds went to Barcelona, and before Barcelona came to Leeds. He was asked it before the two matches with AC Milan. Furthermore, he is always asked it by the same reporter. It's got to the stage where O'Leary gets the question out of the way jokily at the start of his press conferences.

But yesterday it was different, yesterday O'Leary met the question head on and then elaborated on it. Yes, Leeds's season is expanding he agreed, it's just that it's doing so at a time when his squad is contracting. Size matters was basically O'Leary's message and tonight the relative smallness of Leeds's squad will be revealed against the toughest opponents they will have yet met, the European champions, Real Madrid.

While Real went out and supplemented their already successful squad with the £37 million acquisition of Luis Figo from Barcelona during the summer, tonight Leeds, already without Nigel Martyn, Jonathan Woodgate, David Batty, Stephen McPhail, Harry Kewell and Michael Bridges, will also be missing their central midfield pairing of Olivier Dacourt and, most damagingly of all, Eirik Bakke.

The young Norwegian, O'Leary's best purchase, has a calf strain so severe he will definitely not play, said O'Leary while Dacourt, Leeds's record signing at £7.6 million, is suspended. How long that fee remains as the Leeds record outlay became a most timely issue yesterday. As O'Leary told an anecdote about a hospital visit he made on Monday, his chairman Peter Ridsdale was speaking publicly about a meeting with his opposite number at West Ham on Saturday after the Londoners had won at Elland Road.

Ridsdale revealed that Leeds's longstanding interest in Rio Ferdinand had led to him offering the West Ham chairman Terry Brown £15 million. This is not the first time Ridsdale has made the offer and on Monday Ridsdale declared that "West Ham can take it or leave it".

Yesterday that attitude had softened somewhat. "Rio had a good game on Saturday and I took the opportunity to talk to Terry Brown," said Ridsdale. "To date the price has not been the issue. The issue has been that West Ham said they didn't want to sell. If they changed their mind and said they were prepared to sell, I would think like to think that we could match their valuation. So let's ask West Ham where they are at."

Last night it was being suggested that where West Ham are at has changed. It is said they have decided Ferdinand can go. Now it is up to the player. If he leaves, he could be a Leeds player by the weekend when Leeds play Arsenal. But he would not be eligible for the Champions' League until the New Year.

The scale of the proposed transfer illustrates Leeds's rising ambition and wealth - £15 million would be a world record fee for a defender - and may be relevant to the uncertain future of Woodgate. His court case is in January. But it also demonstrates that Leeds have arrived in major league football. Another sign of that will be seen this evening when Real run out at Elland Road for the first time in their history. Leeds paid them the ultimate compliment when Don Revie changed the club's kit to Real's all white in the 1960s, but after eliminating Barcelona from the first phase, Leeds can claim that they are offering more than a mere impression of a mighty European force.

Tonight, however, admirable as Leeds's progress has been, this may be a European hurdle too big. Memories of Madrid winning at Old Trafford were in O'Leary's thoughts yesterday. "They were outstanding," he said, "and it shows their power that they can decide they want Luis Figo and go and get him from Barcelona".

Probable teams

Leeds United: Robinson; Kelly, Radebe, Mills, Harte; Bowyer, Jones, Burns Matteo; Viduka, Smith.

Real Madrid: Casillas; Salgado, Hierro, Karanka, Carlos; Figo, Makelele, McManaman, Guti; Raul, Morientes.

Referee: Dick Jol (Netherlands).