LONDON, Sept 17: AC Milan add a touch of glamour to this season’s UEFA Cup but the seven-times European champions begin their campaign against FC Zurich on Thursday under a cloud after a dismal start to the season.

Milan, who have never won the UEFA Cup, welcome the Swiss side to the San Siro needing a comprehensive victory in the first leg of their first round tie to ease the pressure on under-fire coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Milan, who finished a disappointing fifth in Serie A last season and missed out on the Champions League, were beaten 2-0 at Genoa on Sunday, having lost 2-1 at home to promoted Bologna on the opening day.

Chief executive Adriano Galliani said after a meeting with Ancelloti on Monday that the Milan coach’s job was not under threat. “Carlo Ancelotti won’t be touched. Neither I nor the owner have ever thought of replacing him. I don’t believe the team is in psychological difficulty,” he told reporters.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Juande Ramos is another coach also under pressure early in the season with Spurs rooted to the foot of the Premier League after four matches.

Tottenham, the first winners of the UEFA Cup in 1972, face Wislaw Krakow of Poland, who were eliminated from the Champions League qualifiers by Barcelona.

Ramos’s former side Sevilla, who he guided to successive triumphs in 2006 and 2007, are back in the competition after competing in the Champions League last season. The Spaniards take on Austria’s Salzburg.

Ajax Amsterdam, who won the UEFA Cup in 1992 and have been European champions four times, will be wary of slipping up in the early rounds again when they take on Serbia’s FK Borac in Belgrade.

The Amsterdam side, for whom Marco van Basten makes his European debut as a club coach, lost to Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb at the same stage last season.

Ajax will be without Spanish holding midfielder Gabri, who still is recovering from an ankle injury.

Ajax’s fierce rivals Feyenoord, twice UEFA Cup winners, return to European competition with a tie against Sweden’s Kalmar.

The Rotterdam side were kicked out of the 2006/07 competition following violent disturbances by their fans in an away game against France’s Nancy, and did not qualify for last season’s tournament.

Like Ajax, Feyenoord are under a new coach this season with Gert Jan Verbeek at the helm.

They have a host of injury problems with Ron Vlaar, Karim El Ahmadi, Denny Landzaat, Luigi Bruins and Andwele Slory out.

Striker Roy Makaay has resumed training after sustaining a foot injury at the Beijing Olympics.

Germany’s Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04 moved a step closer to the group stage which starts in late October along with Greek champions Olympiakos Piraeus when all three won their first leg matches on Tuesday.

The final will be played at Fenerbahce’s Sukru Saracoglu stadium in Istanbul on May 20.

—Reuters