GRAEME Souness will be hoping history can repeat itself when Blackburn Rovers cross swords with CSKA Sofia in the first round of the UEFA Cup next month.

For Rovers boss Souness was part of the Liverpool team which bundled the Bulgarians out of the European Cup on their way to lifting the coveted trophy in 1980-81.

And, what's more, the former Scotland captain was the Reds' chief destroyer in that quarter-final tie, after grabbing a brilliant hat-trick during a 5-1 drubbing in the first leg at Anfield.

The Reds then went on to complete a typically professional job by winning the second leg 1-0 in Bulgaria.

But the real damage had been done by Souness in the first game and even now the Ewood chief still dines out on one of the greatest hat-tricks ever scored.

"That was a great hat-trick," said the Rovers boss with a wry smile.

"I think we beat them about 5-0 or 5-1 on the night and then went on to win the whole thing that year.

"I don't remember too much about them other than they hadn't been beaten at home but we went over there and won 1-0 in the second leg.

"They ended up getting their revenge on us, though, because we drew them again the following season and they knocked us out."

Although the CSKA team of today will be an entirely different proposition from the one Souness faced, they will still provide Rovers with a stern examination of their UEFA Cup credentials.

Last season they finished fourth in the Bulgarian League, some 13 points adrift of eventual champions and arch-rivals Levski Sofia.

But they boasted the best defensive record in the division after conceding a miserly 17 goals in 26 games.

They also reached the Bulgarian Cup final where they lost out to Levski Sofia once again.

And, after strengthening their squad during the summer with the likes of former Middlesbrough striker Hamilton Ricard, they are currently at the top of their domestic league.

So although Rovers will start the tie as favourites, Souness's Worthington Cup heroes know they cannot afford to take anything for granted.

Veteran defender Henning Berg knows from experience just how dangerous underestimating foreign opposition can be.

He was part of the Rovers side who lost to Swedish part-timers Trelleborg in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 1994 and the whole experience left a horrible taste in the mouth.

"That was in the days when everyone thought the people and clubs in Norway and Sweden were just amateurs because they weren't paid as much as we are over here," said Berg.

"People thought they didn't train as much as us and they shouldn't have been as good.

"But, if anything, they probably trained harder than we did and you only have to see how many good players have come out of Sweden and Norway in the last 10 years to see that's not the case.

"Having said that, to lose against them was very disappointing and I don't think people were prepared for it.

"We lost 1-0 at home in a game we never should have lost and then drew 2-2 over there when they scored with virtually the last kick which made it impossible for us to come back.

"But that can happen in one-off games and that's the danger of European football.

"The way football is these days, you don't get any easy games so you've got to prepare and make sure you play every game to your very best standards, otherwise you won't win it."