Uefa Cup/Basel v Middlesbrough, Stadion St Jakob, 7.45. On TV - TV3: Middlesbrough is neither a town nor a football club that provokes thoughts of romance, but it is a perception that may need altering.

As chairman Steve Gibson reflected yesterday, it is 20 years since the gates were locked at Ayresome Park as the club slid into liquidation. Boro were in the old Third Division and the future could not be counted on; tonight, Boro aim to take a step into the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup.

It is a rise and regeneration that should inspire. This season has not been without its hazards, but after tonight and the second leg at the Riverside next Thursday, Boro host Charlton in their FA Cup quarter-final replay. Gibson is taking nothing for granted, but he can see the 20th anniversary of the Ayresome gates' closure in May could have extra resonance.

"It's a big, big couple of weeks for the club, the town and the team," Gibson said, "I can't remember anything like it.

"There are great expectations around the place and it will be a big disappointment if we don't quite get there. Twenty years ago, this club was on its knees and it's fitting that the anniversary could bring us a special reward."

Switzerland is an appropriate country to speak of timing, with Boro forced to stay in Zurich due to the world's biggest watch-makers' convention in Basle. At times this season, including when a fan ran on to berate Steve McClaren for his team's boring ineptitude, and victories over Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, it has felt like Boro are intent on squeezing two decades of drama into nine months.

Injury to the captain Gareth Southgate is a setback, but McClaren has a pleasant dilemma up front: between them Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Mark Viduka have 43 goals this season.