Sub-standard Trezeguet's a threat

These two started both legs of the 2-1 second-round elimination of Real Madrid and are likely to be paired by Capello again tonight.

Yet Liverpool will be wary of the threat of 27-year-old Trezeguet, whose most famous strike, the golden goal winner in the Euro 2000 Final, came when he was summoned from the bench.

It was the second-half introduction of the French striker that also swung the Real tie last month. Trezeguet levelled the tie on aggregate after 75 minutes and set- up Marcelo Zalayeta's extra-time winner.

Italian football journalist Paulo Manicucci believes it is only injuries that have held back the Frenchman this season. Manicucci said: "He had a shoulder injury at the start of the season and now he has returned from France's World Cup qualifying campaign with a bad ankle injury.

"Otherwise, he would surely be a first choice in the team. He is not a fantastic player outside the penalty box but he always scores key goals."

Trezeguet's scoring record, for club and country, compares favourably with Europe's elite front men. In 114 games for Juve in Serie A, he has plundered 68 goals, while among modern players only Raul, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andrei Shevchenko, Thierry Henry, Filippo Inzaghi and Del Piero have scored more than his 29 goals in the Champions League.

Add to that an even more prolific international strike rate than Henry, whose 28 goals for France have come in 69 games. Even in this, his annus horribilis, Trezeguet has scored five goals in 13 Serie A games and averaged a goal a game in his four Champions League appearances.

Curiously, in England, Trezeguet's reputation is not as formidable as it is on the Continent. We remember his lame displays at Euro 2004 and the 2002 World Cup and that he has not always dovetailed so well for France with his friend Henry.

The players, who developed their games as colleagues at Monaco, have been regularly used as twin strikers only over the past three years.

The Highbury genius tended to be asked to operate from a wide position to make the most of Trezeguet's greater penalty-box presence. Yet Henry talks of his compatriot in glowing terms.

He said: "David is a fantastic scorer. He always knows where the ball will end up, so it looks as though the ball is seeking him out rather than the opposite. He has a gift. I'm the lucky one, to be playing alongside him."

Whether Trezeguet remains a Juve player beyond this season is in doubt. Although he signed a four-year contract last summer, Juve have a reputation for taking on and discarding strikers as often as Rod Stewart collects identikit blonde consorts.

Reports in Italy yesterday speculated that Trezeguet will move to Spain at the end of the season. Manicucci said: "He surprised everyone by renewing his contract but I don't think he will move next summer.

"Juventus don't have anyone like him. Ibrahimovic is tall and powerful but prefers to play as the second striker, while Del Piero was very poor this season until a month ago. He is not a star anymore."