Fri Mar 14 17:55:54 2008

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Sevilla eyeing return to Champions League

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Valencia, Spain (Sports Network) - Sevilla's run in the Champions League ended recently despite a 3-2 win over Fenerbahce, and now the club has to focus its attention on returning to Europe's top club event.

Sevilla is currently sixth in the Spanish La Liga, just two points out of the fourth and final qualifying spot for next year's Champions League.

With Atletico Madrid and Racing two points ahead and Espanyol level on points, Sevilla visits Valencia on Saturday needing a victory to increase its chances of returning to the tournament.

"The position for the final Champions League place is finely balanced, but the only thing that we can do is to try to win all the games that we can," Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez said.

"The position for the final Champions League place is finely balanced, but the only thing that we can do is to try to win all the games that we can."

Sevilla won consecutive UEFA Cups before making its run to the knockout stage of the Champions League this year. Sevilla tied its round of 16 series against Fenerbahce 5-5 on aggregate but lost in penalty kicks, 3-2.

Valencia has struggled this season but still sits 10th in the league. Although Valencia is near the top of a pack of 11 teams separated by just eight points, the drop zone is just seven points away.

"If we try to compare player by player, we can see that Valencia have a very strong squad," Jimenez said.

The three teams Sevilla is battling for fourth place and the last berth in the Champions League play Sunday.

Fourth-place Atletico Madrid plays last-place Levante, fifth-place Racing will visit Getafe and seventh-place Espanyol hosts Mallorca.

Also Saturday, Real Madrid will try to extend its lead atop the league when it visits Deportivo, Recreativo hosts Real Murciam and Real Betis hosts Athletic Bilbao.

On Sunday, second-place Barcelona will try to pick up ground on Real Madrid at Almeria, third-place Villarreal hosts Real Zaragoza and Osasuna visits Real Valladolid to wrap up the week's action.