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BRISTOL CITY v MIDDLESBROUGH - ARCA TARGETS EUROPEAN RETURN
Midfielder Julio Arca harbours high hopes of playing European football with Middlesbrough next season.
The 26-year-old believes that the door is still open on two fronts for Boro to regain a place in the UEFA Cup after reaching the final in Eindhoven last season.
Arca, who completed a £1.75million move to Teesside from north-east neighbours Sunderland last summer, believes a UEFA Cup place via the Barclays Premiership is not out of the question if Boro maintain their unbeaten run.
But the Argentinian is also looking at the FA Cup as providing the team's biggest opportunity of getting back into Europe.
Boro, who reached the FA Cup semi-finals last year before going out to West Ham, have to overcome a tricky fourth round tie against League One side Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Saturday if they want to reach the last sixteen.
And Arca said: "The FA Cup is a very important competition for us - it offers us a chance to play in Europe if we can go all the way.
"That is our aim, but we have to take it one step at a time.
"We have Bristol on Saturday and they are going very well. But we are playing with confidence and we hope to go there and win."
Boro struggled to qualify for the fourth round after just holding out against heavy pressure from Coca-Cola Championship Hull to win their third round replay by 4-3 at the Riverside Stadium.
Arca continued: "We were winning 3-0 against Hull in the last round and we really should have won comfortably, but we allowed Hull to come back into the game.
"But that is the cup. It will be the same on Saturday. Bristol will give 110% and show what they can do against a Premiership team.
"We respect that. If we want to win we know we have to work very hard."
Arca has already tasted the delights of a long Cup run, and is relishing the opportunity to go all the way to the final.
He said: "I played in the semi-final for Sunderland against Millwall a couple of years ago and it was a great occasion.
"I was disappointed we didn't get through to the final but maybe the chance will come again. I would like that.
"If you can do well in the cup then it can help you with your league form, so we are looking forward to keeping things going."
If Boro falter in the Cup, then Arca believes that Boro retain a chance of UEFA qualification via the Premiership. He insists that Boro are now only looking upwards in the league after virtually banishing their relegation worries.
Boro are unbeaten so far in 2007 and have scored 16 goals in their last five games.
It's all down to manager Gareth Southgate's refreshing attacking approach.
Arca is a progressive player by nature, and his combined work with England winger Stewart Downing has helped provide superb service for strikers Yakubu and Mark Viduka.
Arca added: "In the last couple of weeks we have done well. We have scored a lot of goals.
"If you win a few games you climb to a higher position in the league.
"It is good. We have some confidence back. The manager said we wanted to play attacking football and we are scoring goals, which is good.
"But we are playing well as a team. Defensively we have one of the best six or seven records in the league."
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