IN the Eternal City of Rome, manager Steve McClaren feels Middlesbrough can keep alive dreams of an historic UEFA Cup triumph by claiming AS Roma should be the team running scared.

Boro trained in the outstanding Stadio Olimpico for the first time last night, where there is seating for more than 80,000 for the last 16 encounter.

But, with more than 3,000 Teesside supporters in the Italian capital, McClaren is relishing the prospect of facing one of the biggest clubs in Serie A and starting with a one goal advantage.

That was achieved courtesy of Aiyegbeni Yakubu's early penalty in the first leg at the Riverside Stadium last Thursday and the Boro boss is hoping for a similarly gutsy display to preserve, if not even build, on that lead.

"It is a massive challenge and I am very excited by it," said McClaren, who was in temporary charge of England alongside Peter Taylor when they lost 1-0 to Italy in the Stadio Olimpico in November 2000.

"We know what our game plan is and it will be exactly the same as last week. We have to be resilient but we know we can score.

"That is our main advantage and that is in the back of the Roma players' minds, with Yakubu and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink up front. We will need to score, we know that."

With promising midfielder Daniele De Rossi back from suspension to help Roma's cause, McClaren knows the Giallorossi will be a different proposition to that which suffered defeat on Teesside.

The first leg defeat clearly had an affect at the weekend when Luciano Spalletti's team lost for the first time in 13 Seria A games to Ascoli.

"We are going to see a completely different Roma," said McClaren.

"That's a given in Europe. Home and away teams are completely different. On their home patch they have got a very, very good record and I think you will see a very different Roma team.

"The onus is on them to score and we have to find a balance between keeping a clean sheet and scoring the vital goal. We still need to make it an English game with that kind of tempo and aggression. We can't allow everything to be all Roma.

"The fact they have lost two games in a row will, if anything, make them more determined to get back to winning ways. It's funny, sometimes you can get complacency when you go on a long winning sequence.

"They have had that knocked out of them but we still believe they are a very good team."

Having made nine changes to the side at Charlton on Sunday that edged out Roma in the first leg, McClaren is ready to recall the experienced heads tonight.

The 2-1 defeat at The Valley was Boro's first in the Premiership in four matches and the manager will be recalling players - like George Boateng, who has shrugged off an ankle problem - who are currently at the top of their form.

"They've all got an important role to play," he said. "It's going to be a long evening with a lot of twists and turns and with the tie at 1-0, it was always going to be like that.

"Resting players at Charlton gave us the best possible opportunity of doing just that, resting them. The preparation has been ideal, they are fresh and right and rested and we will need that.

"This might be a game that goes to extra-time and penalties, where freshness, fitness and energy come into it. I had to think of the bigger picture and particularly this game."

With so many Boro fans making the trip to Italy, with some predicting as many as 5, 000 are out here, McClaren has also highlighted the part the supporters have to play in pushing his team on.

"It's what the fans want and they responded fantastically last week in the home leg," he said. "I'm going to emphasise to players before the game that they must show recognition to our crowd before kick-off because they have an important role to play. We are going to need them."

Roma (probable): Curci; Panucci, Mexes, Chivu, Cufre; De Rossi, Aquilani, Tommasi, Perrotta; Taddei; Mancini.

Middlesbrough (probable): Schwarzer; Davies, Riggott, Southgate, Pogatetz; Mendieta, Boateng, Cattermole, Downing; Hasselbaink; Yakubu.