McClaren revels in the big-game spotlight

Uefa Cup semi-final, second leg/Middlesbrough (0) v Steaua (1), Riverside Stadium, 8.0/On TV Setanta: Full houses at Middlesbrough are sufficiently rare to provoke comment but according to the club the sold-out signs went up outside the Riverside yesterday for the first time in 16 months, and when Steve McClaren entered the sometimes sparsely populated press room to see it packed he asked: "Big game?"

The Boro manager then answered his own question by stating that if they won decisively tonight's semi-final second leg against Steaua Bucharest and reached the Uefa Cup final, "it would be the greatest achievement in the club's history." He then described that aim as "the culmination of five years' work"; looking at the game itself he called it "intriguing, a coach's delight".

With Steaua - the 1986 European Cup winners, champions of Romania and league leaders once again - leading 1-0, Boro have half the deficit to overcome that they faced against FC Basel in the second leg of that unforgettable quarter-final on Teesside.

Mark Viduka scored twice then and, to the Boro coach's delight the Australian, who missed the first leg last week and Sunday's FA Cup semi-final defeat by West Ham United at Villa Park, will feature tonight.

The quiet expectation is that Viduka will start. "He is a big-game player and this is a big game," said McClaren. "He has trained in the last couple of days lightly and we will make a decision as late as possible before kick-off. He will play some part, but maybe not at the beginning."

McClaren was being coy. He was in good form - batting off repeated England questions without annoyance - but, as he pointed out, Middlesbrough have failed to score in their past two matches and that is a situation that has to change if they are to progress.

In goal, Brad Jones will deputise for Mark Schwarzer and, with Gareth Southgate returning from injury and Chris Riggott back from suspension, the defence and midfield personnel are likely to be the same that played in the 3-5-2 formation at Villa Park.

"Our tactics were spot-on," McClaren said of the West Ham game, and with Steaua expected to swamp midfield to protect their advantage, two full backs might feel like a luxury. But it is in attack where decisions have to be made. If fit, Viduka will partner Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. In 11 games together this season the pair have scored 12 goals and theirs is a developing relationship.

This will come as a blow to Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who is the club's top scorer with 19 goals. Unfortunately for the Nigerian striker none of those goals came in the past 12 matches. "We had 20 shots on Sunday," McClaren said. He did not add "on target".

Asked if he had been educated or inspired by events in Villarreal on Tuesday night, McClaren chose not to say how uplifted he was by Arsenal's passage through a tense second leg. Rather he admired Villarreal's "patience - they had the opportunities and the chances and that is exactly how I expected that to go. Maybe ours will be the same. We have to make sure we take ours. But we have to play the game, not the occasion, that is a key phrase." Not one heard for a while at the Riverside. But it will be noisy tonight.