Nancy out to wreck Well's dreams

Venue: Stade Marcel-Picot Date: Thursday, 18 September Kick-off: 1800 BST Coverage:BBC Two Scotland, BBC Sport website and BBC Radio Scotland 810 MW

By Thomas McGuigan

Nancy's star man Youssof Hadji is an injury doubt

Motherwell return to European competition on Thursday for the first time in 13 years.

Mark McGhee's side travel to France to take on AS Nancy-Lorraine in the first-round of the Uefa Cup, hopeful of better fortunes this time round.

In 1995, they exited the Uefa Cup in the qualifying round, losing on away goals to Finnish side My-Pa 47.

But Motherwell face a difficult obstacle to progress to the group stages of the Uefa Cup this season.

Nancy, who are currently 14th in Ligue 1, were founded in 1967 and play their home games at the 20,085 capacity Stade Marcel-Picot.

Former players include Michel Platini and former France boss Aime Jaquet managed the club.

And a certain Arsene Wenger had an unsuccessful spell as manager early in his career.

Despite losing 3-2 at home to Rennes on the final day of last season, Nancy secured their highest-ever finish in Ligue 1 - finishing fourth and securing Uefa Cup qualification.

The French outfit have found some success with a sound defence and are more pragmatic than free-flowing, according to France Football journalist Philippe Auclair.

Pablo Correa's side are the draw specialists of French football

Nancy are sweating on the fitness of star players Gaston Curbelo and Youssof Hadji.

Striker Curbelo is struggling with an Achilles injury, while Hadji missed Saturday's 1-1 draw with Auxerre.

It was Nancy's third draw in five league games and they are finding goals hard to come by.

Moroccan Moncef Zerka's equaliser in the second-half secured a point for Pablo Correa's side.

Zerka, who can play in midfield or up front, featured for his country in this year's Africa Nations Cup.

And Fulham fans will remember Abdeslam Ouaddou, a Moroccan defender who spent a spell in England at Craven Cottage and who will be tasked with nullifying the threat of John Sutton, Chris Porter and David Clarkson.

But it is Hadji who is largely credited for making Nancy tick.

Auclair told the BBC that Nancy draw a lot of games and are not firing on all cylinders so far this season.

"I can't see Nancy scoring many goals," he said. "I wouldn't say that Motherwell are favourites but I'd say it's a very well-balanced match.

"They're a very difficult team to beat, but they're not the Nancy of last year.

"The stadium isn't very big, but we expect it to be full for the game. It's a very young club which hasn't been in existence for a very long time."

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Nancy are not the most attacking side in Ligue 1 and Auclair doesn't expect that to change against the SPL side on Thursday.

"They were so close to finishing third last season and qualifying for the Champions League. Their philosophy was 'contain, contain, contain' and relying on Hadji to create something."

Motherwell are similarly not firing on all cylinders and last Saturday's 4-2 defeat by Celtic showed both their defensive frailties and attacking potential.

The Steelmen will be aiming for an away goal on Thursday and to provide some French resistance of their own to keep the tie alive.

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Philippe Auclair was speaking to BBC Scotland's Chick Young on his World of Football programme.