Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard will miss his sides second leg Champions League qualifier against CSKA Sofia as the Merseyside outfit look to extend their 3-1 first leg lead at Anfield.

The England international has a calf strain and may also not feature in the Super Cup game on Friday. Milan Baros will not feature as he looks to complete his transfer to Aston Villa. Peter Crouch and Neil Mellor are injured with manager Rafael Benitez expected to rotate with another game in three days time against CSKA Moscow.

Udinese host Sporting Lisbon tonight as they look to produce the same performance which saw them triumph 1-0 in Portugal in the first leg thanks to a Vincenzo Iaquinta penalty. Udinese boss Serse Cosmi has a spate of suspensions with key striker Di Natale suspended. Deivid, Miguel Garcia and Custodio are suspended for Sporting with Edson and Deivid doubts.

Real Betis take a 1-0 first leg lead to Monaco for tonight Champions League qualifier. Monaco coach Didier Deschamps will be missing strikers Ernesto Chevanton and Emmanuel Adebayor as well as the suspened defender Gael Givet.

Betis coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer will take his side into the game following an impressive 2-1 win at Barcelona at the weekend and will be in confident mood despite losing the Spanish Cup on aggregate to the Catalan side. Ferrer is set to name an unchanged side from the first leg.

Panathinaikos host Wisla Krakow as they look to overturn a 3-1 first leg defeat. Rosenberg play Steaua Bucharest in Norway following the 1-1 draw in Romania in the first leg.

Thirty teams look to battle it out in the next two days as 16 sides will qualify for the lucrative group stage of the Champions League to play the 16 sides who achieved automatic qualification.

The qualifiers will be drawn into eight groups containing four sides each. Past European Champions Internazionale, Manchester United and Ajax will hope to reach the group stages tomorrow. Everton face a tricky second leg tie in Spain tomorrow following the 2-1 first leg defeat at Goodison Park to Villarreal.

Fixtures – 1st leg results in brackets
Monaco v Betis (0-1)
Panathinaikos v Wisla (1-3)
Club Brugge v Valerenga (0-1)
Rangers v Anorthosis (2-1)
Debrecen v Man. United (0-3)
Villarreal v Everton (2-1)
Udinese v Sporting (1-0)
Thun v Malmo (1-0)
Partizan v Artmedia (0-0)
Rosenborg v Steaua (1-1)
Lokomotiv Moscow v Rapid (1-1)
Liverpool v CSKA Sofia (3-1)
Slavia v Anderlecht (1-2)
Ajax v Brondby (2-2)
Bremen v Basel (1-2)
Internazionale v Shakhtar (2-0)