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Godhino wants right result Sporting Lisbon president Luis Godinho Lopes is confident his side can emerge from their tricky trip to Metalist Kharkiv with the result they need to book their place in the semi-finals of the Europa League.

The Portuguese side were 2-1 winners in the first leg at Estadio Jose Alvalade last week but must defend that slender advantage against a Metalist side who with 26 goals are the top scorers in this season's competition.

Sporting were on course to take charge of the quarter-final tie when Marat Izmailov and Emiliano Insua put them 2-0 up last week, but Cleiton Xavier's 90th-minute spot-kick has given the Ukrainian outfit a realistic chance of progressing ahead of tomorrow's return at Metalist Stadium.

Nevertheless, Lopes has backed Sporting coach Ricardo Sa Pinto and his players to get the job done.

"We will try and get the win," Lopes told reporters. "If I wasn't confident then I wouldn't go.

"We are going out there to dignify Portugal's and Sporting's names.

"We believe that we will get a good result." Sporting head into the match on the back of three straight wins in all competitions, although their run of just one win in their last away games in Europe will be of concern.

Striker Diego Rubio believes Sporting will have to go on the attack in pursuit of an away goal to neutralise Xavier's strike for Metalist last week.

"We won an important game against a tough team that has some quality players, but we will approach the second leg as we did the first," Rubio said.

"We have to believe in the team and try to score in the Ukraine. We can't start thinking about the final already and we have to focus on one game at a time." Metalist are looking to emulate Shakhtar Donetsk's 2009 UEFA Cup triumph and in doing so become only the second Ukrainian side to win a major European tournament.

The winners of the match face the victors of the encounter between Schalke and Athletic Bilbao. Athletic are the favourites to progress from that tie after winning 4-2 in last week's first leg in Germany.

FC Metalist Kharkiv vs Sporting

Last modified 22:27 05/04/12

Xavier miss costly for Metalist Cleiton Xavier's second-half penalty miss cost hosts Metalist Kharkiv dear as Sporting Lisbon clung on for a 1-1 draw in Ukraine which sent them through to the Europa League semi-finals, 3-2 on aggregate.

Leading 2-1 from the first leg in Portugal, Sporting extended their lead through Ricky van Wolfswinkel before Jonathan Cristaldo equalised early in the second half to pile the pressure on the visitors.

But Metalist blew their big chance of levelling on aggregate in the 63rd minute when Alexandre Xandao fouled Marko Devic in the box, and Xavier rattled his resulting spot-kick at the legs of Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

The Ukrainians had pushed forward from the start, with Edmar forcing a save out of Patricio in the third minute with a close-range header from a free-kick from the busy Xavier.

After the visitors responded by forcing a series of corners, Metalist again went on the offensive and came close to opening the scoring in the 12th minute when Cristaldo headed over from six yards.

Metalist were creating most of the chances and Rui Patricio did well to maintain Sporting's slender aggregate lead in the 29th minute when he tipped over an 18-yard shot from Xavier.

Freda Taison shot at the keeper's feet and Cristian Villagra fired over the bar from 12 yards before Sporting fashioned a rare shooting chance with Marat Izmailov hitting a shot over from long range.

With Sporting nudging back into the match, Van Wolfswinkel forced a 39th-minute save out of Oleksandr Goryainov, but Metalist came close again two minutes later when Patricio saved brilliantly to deny Xavier.

Out of nowhere, Sporting grabbed the opener in the last minute of the first half when Van Wolfswinkel headed home a cross by Diego Capel, extending the Portuguese side's aggregate lead.

Needing to score at least twice, Metalist made a good start to the second half with Cristaldo having a shot blocked in the box in the 48th minute and a dangerous Xavier free-kick booted clear by Xandao.

Matias Fernandez missed with a long-range effort which would have sealed it for the visitors in the 55th minute, and Metalist responded by equalising four minutes later when Cristaldo fired home from Devic's header down.