Source: SKY_Sports
O'Neill ready for Moscow mission
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill remains hopeful his side can book their place in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup despite being held to a 1-1 home draw by CSKA Moscow. Russian club CSKA snatched a priceless away goal at Villa Park on Wednesday night as Vagner Love broke the deadlock on 14 minutes.But an improved second-half performance from Villa saw striker John Carew level to hand the club a lifeline ahead of the return meeting at the Luzhniki Stadium next Thursday.O'Neill said: "We have still got a chance although obviously it will be really hard in Moscow."They have an away goal so we have to score to have a chance but it is not impossible.Threat"They showed they are a dangerous counter-attacking side but so are we as our record (10 away Premier League wins this season) has shown this season."They are a very good side who won their group in a canter and have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League."But I thought we played really well and deserved to win this game."The players are learning all the time, gaining experience from playing in Europe and I was really pleased with them."People say we are hard working and determined but we also have some real quality in this team and have showed this all season. If we had been beaten I would have been disappointed."Zico reactionMeanwhile, CSKA coach Zico feels his side will benefit from an extra week's training ahead of the second leg after playing their first competitive match since 4th December.He said: "It was a highly competitive game. Our team resisted greatly. It was a good result for us."Nothing is resolved yet and we will do our best. The next game we will be in better condition and more ready to play another game after the break."We were not surprised by the way Villa played. It was very seldom they had the ball on the ground making passes."They get Ashley Young to put the ball into the box a lot. We expected this sort of game and we were ready for it."