Norwegians look to upset in-form Everton

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The Norwegian champions take on David Moyes' men in the first leg of the last 32 and director of sports Roald Bruun-Hanssen believes his side have nothing to fear from the tie.

Looking to avoid an upset: Everton boss David Moyes will look for a good result in Norway

"Everton is not the strongest opposition we could have drawn," he said.

"Our chance to advance is a good performance at home.

"If we can come away with a win from the first leg, we can go to Goodison Park and have confidence we could defend our lead."

Bruun-Hanssen's confidence is not without foundation, with November seeing Brann crowned Norwegian champions for the first time in 44 years.

It remains to be seen whether their relative inactivity over the past couple of months - they have not played a competitive game since a UEFA Cup game on December 3 - works for or against them.

A month of sunshine training in La Manga and a couple of warm-up friendlies has been the sum total of their preparations.

But they do possess a number of dangerous and familiar players for their opponents.

Brann's key midfielder is former Leeds man Erik Bakke, 30, who returned to his homeland in 2006 after his UK career was wrecked by serious knee problems.

They also boast former Portsmouth player Azar Karadas, who had 20 games at Fratton Park in a season-long stay.

Their last significant European adventure took them to the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals and a tie with Liverpool.

A Robbie Fowler goal gave Liverpool a 1-1 draw in Bergen back in 1996-97, and he grabbed two more in a comfortable second-leg win at Anfield, Stan Collymore adding the third.

Bruun-Hanssen said: "Everton are well known in Norway, but not as big as Liverpool.

"We did very well against them 10 years ago and maybe we could go just a bit better this time around."