Per-Mathias Høgmo has set a difficult goal for himself; he hopes for continued UEFA Cup play through the whole winter and spring.

RBK secured the third place in the Champions League group after the match against Olympiakos that ended 1-1. That means that they will join the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup in February.

"We are very happy about this. Not many people thought we had a chance before the Champions League group stage had begun, but now we have taken those four points we needed and we were also very close to getting good results against Lyon and Real Madrid too," Høgmo told Rosenborg Web.

The Rosenborg coach thinks that the UEFA Cup will suit his team well.

"Now that we have gotten to the 3rd round we might go all the way," the optimistic northener said.

But at the same time Høgmo is not going to spend much thought on such things. He, like most other football coaches, wants to take it one match at a time.

"Getting there will be hard. The match against Lyon will be vital to us. We might get some much needed experience and get to practice our away playing."

RBK must none the less do without their usual trio on the midfield in France: Per Ciljan Skjelbred broke his leg against Olympiakos, while Roar Strand, struggling with some minor foot injuries, will be spared. In addition Jan Gunnar Solli is not playing due to an imminent surgery:

"He has got "Gilmore's groin", and will undergo surgery at the end of this week. We decided early on to do the surgery at once if we secured the third place today. The most important thing for us is to get him fit for fight in the UEFA Cup in February," Høgmo revealed.

Ørjan Berg is already out because of the operation of the ancle done in October. That means that RBK will use a completely new midfield against John Carew and his companions.

"We will let many new players try their hand at playing at this level," Per-Mathias Høgmo confirmed.

That most likely means that Fredrik Winsnes, Sebastián Eguren and Alexander Tettey will be playing.

"But at the same time we saw that Frode (Johnsen) did well as running midfielder," the RBK-boss concluded.

Some info on the UEFA Cup:

RBK are, as the third team in their Champions League group, going to meet one of the eight runners ups of the group phase in the UEFA Cup. Viking and/or Tromsø are not amongst the possible opponents, because of the "nation rule" of UEFA.

The 3rd and the 4th round of the UEFA Cup will be drawn 16 December. Rosenborg begin the 3rd round at home 15/16 February with return leg on 23 February.