Worried Nancy boy issues SOS Coll

Sep 28 2008 By Euan Mclean

NANCY stopper Abdeslam Ouaddou is using John Collins as a super spy to help his side send Motherwell crashing out of Europe.

The pair have been good friends since their days playing together at Fulham in the early 90s.

Fluent French-speaking Collins helped his young team-mate settle in to life in a new country - but is now chipping in with advice on how to get the better of the Scots.

Mark McGhee's men need to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the UEFA Cup second-leg clash on Thursday to claim a place in the lucrative group stages.

Ouaddou said: "John and I speak every couple of weeks and I will be in touch with him before the game in Scotland.

"He told me Motherwell are a good team who play with passion, are well organised and do not leave a lot of space between their lines. I listen to what he has to say because he is a big influence on my career.

"I was just 22 when I arrived at Fulham and he was the one who spoke to me and helped me. He was also one of the best I've ever played with and an important figure in my development as a footballer."

Ouaddou also keeps close touch with ex-Rangers striker Filip Sebo, who was with him last season at Valenciennes, plus Hibs hitman and fellow Moroccan national team-mate Abdessalam Benjelloun.

He said: "I keep in touch with Filip and I have spoken many times about Scotland with Benjelloun.

"He also learned a lot from Collins when he was manager at Hibs.

Benji told me great things about the passion of the Scots - and I saw that in the first leg against Well. The fans' support was superb."

Ouaddou expects the noise level to be cranked up a notch at Fir Park on Thursday.

He added: "We expect a difficult game and there were warnings of what lies ahead in the second half in France.

"I expect their home crowd to drive them on."

And his team-mate Pascal Berenguer is also anticipating a red-hot atmosphere.

He even claims it will be more intimidating than playing Shakhtar Donetsk in front of 50,000 Ukrainian fans.

Berenguer - who scored the only goal of the first leg - said: "They will try to intimidate us and it's easier to do that when the stands are close to the pitch.

"The Shakhtar fans tried to put us off a few years ago.

"But this will be harder than Donetsk because the crowd is closer to the park."