Duff fit to start for Blackburn in tonight's clash with Celtic

DAMIEN DUFF is fit to start for Blackburn against Celtic in tonight's much-hyped UEFA Cup clash at

Parkhead (live Net 2).

The Republic of Ireland international has been out injured alongside England international Andy Cole and there were doubts as to whether either would feature in the first leg of the latest Battle of Britain, but both now seem set to face the Scottish champions. Souness said: ''We've got Damien Duff and Andy Cole back so there's a decision to be made there in terms of team selection. Damien had a hamstring injury and with those injuries you're never 100% confident that you're fit until you get 90 minutes under your belt. He's not been training but we're told that he's fit to play. But obviously I won't reveal my team just now.' The ex-Rangers boss claimed his side will not be in Glasgow merely to shut up shop and he looked forward to an exciting battle. He said: ''We'll be trying to win the game because I've got a group of players who always try to win. It should be an entertaining game but we'll need to score more than one goal because we've been conceding lately.''

Celtic boss Martin O'Neill believes Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke will have the biggest point to prove that they should still be gracing the Champions League with Manchester United. The Celtic manager yesterday tried to take his players out of the spotlight as the temperature intensified before the game. O'Neill said: ''The four forward players (Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton) are top-quality players and I assume that Blackburn will have (Andy) Cole and (Dwight) Yorke up front.

''They will be fresh from their European triumph of a couple of seasons ago and I'm sure they will possibly feel that they should still be playing for Manchester United. They have proved themselves to be top-class players and they are a massive danger to us.''

Celtic have their own danger men in attack with 18-goal Henrik Larsson in fine form alongside Chris Sutton, who comes face to face with his former club. That is another talking point that has added to the occasion but O'Neill is adamant he and his players are only concerned with booking their place in the third round of the competition rather than the hype surrounding the game. The Celtic boss added: ''No matter what I think the comparisons will all be drawn and eventually we will made out to represent Scotland.

''People will inevitably draw comparisons because they are going well in the Premiership and they are against a team who have been talked about moving down and people will be interested to see how we would cope.

''I'm not too sure that two games will tell you exactly where we would stand if we were to go down there. I know the players are looking forward to it and some of the lads here are up from the Premiership and will know some players in the other side.

''The players are looking forward to it without a doubt, but I can't say that I've seen a different edge from them in the last few days. This probably doesn't sit too well, but this tie wouldn't actually make one jot of difference to me because I want to go through to the next round. Obviously this match has been talked about for the last couple of days if not weeks, but in terms of personal satisfaction I will leave it until the end of the season.'' O'Neill said: ''We can win the tie without a doubt, but we must start more brightly than we did against Basle.