Krakow set sights on Spurs upset

Uefa Cup first round second leg
Venue: Wisla Stadium Date: Thursday, 2 October Kick-off: 1440 BST Coverage: BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio London, BBC Sport website and Five television

By David Ornstein

Baszczynski says Wisla will attack as much as possible on home soil

Wisla Krakow captain Marcin Baszczynski is confident his side will heap further misery on Tottenham by knocking them out of the Uefa Cup on Thursday.

Spurs, who sit bottom of the Premier League, lead 2-1 from the first leg but a 1-0 defeat in Poland would end their European campaign at the first hurdle.

"We know all about Tottenham's problems and the pressure is on them to get a result," Baszczynski told BBC Sport.

"Our team spirit and form is very strong and we believe we will win."

Wisla produced a disciplined performance in the first leg at White Hart Lane, equalising just moments after going behind, only for Darren Bent to head the winner for Tottenham.

The result is one of just two victories for Spurs this season and boss Juande Ramos, who won back-to-back Uefa Cups with Sevilla, will be desperate to come through the tie and reach the group stages.

But Baszczynski believes the pressure is all on Tottenham and that Wisla can use that to their advantage.

"Without doubt, Tottenham are the favourites for this game," said the 31-year-old full-back.

"But we can cause a surprise and we will do everything to win the match and go through to the group stages, this is what we've been dreaming about.

"Tottenham have some world class individual players but Wisla are stronger as a team.

"You could see evidence of that in the first leg and, even though we were beaten, we are confident it will help us win on Thursday."

The reigning Polish champions have made an outstanding start to their league campaign and lie second in the table after five wins from seven games.

This season we have kept four clean sheets in the league and two in Europe - if we can stop Tottenham from scoring we have the players to get us goals Marcin Baszczynski

Maciej Skorza's side missed out on making this season's Champions League after losing to Barcelona in the third round of qualifying.

They did, however, defeat Barca 1-0 at home after losing the first leg in Spain 4-0 and had earlier beaten Beitar Jerusalem 5-2 on aggregate in the second round.

The 16,000-capacity Stadion Wisly is renowned for its ferocious atmosphere and Wisla are considered a formidable force on home soil.

"Tottenham will see that we always play with lots of ambition at home," said Baszczynski. "We beat Beitar and Barcelona with brilliant performances - we play a very offensive game and always look for goals.

"This season we have kept four clean sheets in the league and two in Europe. If we can stop Tottenham from scoring we have the players to get us goals.

"We know they are very strong on the wings with Aaron Lennon and David Bentley, and Darren Bent also caused us problems in the first leg.

"We are determined to play an attacking game but Tottenham will look to counter-attack and so we've got to watch out for their pace in wide areas."

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Baszczynski, an experienced international who played for Poland at last summer's European Championship, helped Wisla to the Uefa Cup fourth round in 2003.

Wisla have only reached the Uefa Cup group stage once since they were introduced in 2004 but have never gone further.

"This means a huge amount to everyone," Baszczynski added. "Victory would be a great boost for the club and for Polish football as a whole.

"Qualifying for the group stages would be financially beneficial and it would give the players the belief that we are capable of big things."