ROY Hodgson stunned Italian football today by declaring tonight's UEFA Cup final second leg will NOT be the biggest game of his life.

A goal behind from the first leg against German side Schalke 04, Hodgson's Internazionale are far from guaranteed securing the UEFA Cup at the San Siro tonight.

But the Blackburn Rovers manager-elect said that taking Switzerland to the World Cup finals in America was just as momentous.

And he singled out Halmstads' winning of the Swedish championship when he was their manager as the pinnacle of his career so far.

His refusal to acknowledge tonight's game as more important than that is seen as a sign that he is already more concerned with looking ahead to taking over the reins at Ewood Park next month.

Further evidence that this is the case came with his complete indifference towards the news that Inter look set to complete the signing Brazilian striker Ronaldo for a world record fee in the next couple of days.

"I don't know anything about that," he said.

"Two weeks ago it was cut and dried that Lazio were going to sign him, last week it was (AC) Milan and now the news is it's Inter."

This does not mean, however, that he is indifferent about winning the UEFA Cup.

He would dearly love to go out of Italian football with a major trophy to his name and arrive at Ewood Park having just won a European final.

But he is not underestimating the task.

"Schalke are a very difficult team to break down, they're very good defensively," he said from Inter's training ground, La Pinetina.

"We'll badly need the flair and talent of (Youri) Djorkaeff and (Paul) Ince who of course weren't around for the first leg.

"The Germans have fanatical support which is something else we have to contend with.

"One of the major difficulties I see, though, is that we didn't score an away goal.

"It's important, therefore, that we don't concede a goal because suddenly our task is so much more difficult."

Though concentrating immediately on tonight's final, Hodgson is deep in talks with Tony Parkes and Blackburn Rovers chairman Robert Coar about possible signings at Ewood Park.

"At the moment we're identifying players who fit our needs," he added.

BLACKBURN Rovers were today celebrating a sensational European success.

The Rovers Under-18 squad lifted the Naters Junior International Tournament Trophy in Switzerland.

And they did it in sparkling style - thumping Hungarians Ferencvaros 11-0 in the final at Naters near Geneva.

James Beattie and Andy McAvoy led the charge with a hat-trick each while Damian Johnson, Keith Brown, Martin Taylor, Graham Cassin and Lee Fitzpatrick also found the net.

Rovers began their march to the final with wins over Austria Memphis 2-0 (McAvoy, Johnson), Borussia Dortmund 2-0 (Beattie, 2) and Naters (Switzerland) 2-0 (McAvoy, Johnson).

There was further success as an Under-18 select squad reached the final of the Adidas Boyne Cup in Drogheda, Republic of Ireland.

But Rovers lost a tense penalty shoot-out 5-4 to a Dublin and District Schoolboy Select. The scores were tied 1-1 at full-time.

Blackburn thrashed Donegal Celtic 4-0 and were held to a 0-0 by Glasgow Celtic.

"It was a terrific effort from all the lads and to win one tournament and reach the final of another is a super achievement, " said coach Jim Furnell.

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